The Garden of Madness

Game System THE LEGENDS OF SKYFALL

CHARACTERISTICS

EXPERTISE (E): Initial E is always 12. No limits to the level to which E score can rise or fall. VITALITY (V): Initial V is always 20. May not rise beyond this and Death occurs if it falls to zero. FORTUNE (F): Initial F is 10+3H-T. Use of the Coins Examples: 2H Toss 2 coins, count the heads 3T Toss 3 coins, count the tails 4 H - T Toss 4 coins, count heads and deduct tails E+4H Toss 4 coins, count heads and add that number to your E score 10+4H-T Toss 4 coins, count heads and add that number to 10. Deduct number of tails for your answer. Combat Resolution * If SURPRISE is involved, subtract 3T from the defender's E score. * Toss E + 4H for yourself, and E + 4H for your opponent. Winner subtracts appropriate Damage points from opponent's V score. You may use FORTUNE. * Combat continues until one character's V score reaches 0. * FORTUNE: In combat, you may give up to 1 F point to add 1 point to the Damage you inflict. Or you may use 1 F point to reduce Damage suffered. Provisions Food: Eat one meal per day to add 4 to your V score. Healing: 3 draughts. Each adds 8 to your V score. (Cannot be used during combat.)

The Garden of Madness The planet of Skyfall is a dangerous place for the humans who live there. Vast areas of this strange planet still lie unexplored, and unknown tribes and fantastic creatures inhabit its depths. The rich and fertile Kingdom of Delta is bounded by sea to the south, the wastes of the Groaning Desert to the west, and the Morn Mountains to the east. Between its northern borders and the icefields, bands of outlaws and tribes of evil humanoids roam the desolate tundra, ever on the lookout for a chance of invasion and plunder. You are a young Deltan adventurer, caught up in a web of intrigue and diplomacy when summoned to aid your country in its hour of need. And in the honeycomb of passages below an ancient castle you meet creatures no living eye has seen . . . In this Skyfall series of Advanced Fantasy Gamebooks, you may immerse yourself in the exciting world of your character, and if you reason logically from the information revealed in each new encounter, your chances of success will be much improved. No dice-rolling is needed to play through this Gamebook. Instead a unique, quick and convenient game system has been devised, using the heads and tails of coins. Scanned and compiled by Underdogs Home of the Underdogs http://www.the-underdogs.org/

About the author David Tant was among the first people to play Advanced Dungeons & Dragons when the game first arrived in the U.K. (his highest level characters include a master thief, born in 1978, and a patriarch called Hopeless who is a year younger). The adventures in his Skyfall books have been developed from those he has run for his group of fantasy game-playing friends over the years. He also acts as a referee at D & D competitions, and from Mondays to Fridays he is the sub-manager of a South London bank.

Also available in this series

David Tant THE LEGENDS OF

The Garden of Madness

THE LEGENDS OF SKYFALL

1. Monsters of the Marsh 2. The Black Pyramid 3. Mine of Torments

Illustrated by

Jon Glentoran Map drawn by

David Angus

Armada

The Garden of Madness was first published in 1985 in Armada by Fontana Paperbacks, 8 Grafton Street, London W1X 3LA Armada is an imprint of Fontana Paperbacks, a division of the Collins Publishing Group. © David Tant 1985 Printed in Great Britain by William Collins Sons & Co Ltd Glasgow

Conditions of Sale This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out or otherwise circulated without the publisher's prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

To Allan, Bill, Chris, Dave, Don & Patrick, for all their help and encouragement (should I ever get some).

Contents SKYFALL

9

The Skyfall Game System

11

Hints on Play

19

The Garden of Madness

21

The Kingdom of Delta is the setting for all the adventures in this series. It lies in the northern hemisphere of a planet far from our own where refugees from an exhausted and ravaged Terra were forced to land the shuttles from their crippled colony ship thousands of years ago. They named their new planet Skyfall, but the centuries since have erased all memory of their origins. The humans are not alone on Skyfall, although they have multiplied until they now outnumber the other intelligent races. Some of these live in peace and harmony with men, while others are distinctly antagonistic. Almost all science has been lost over the centuries, but Magic has developed to take its place. And Magic, in Delta, is of three types. Arcane Magic, the most spectacular, is learned at great personal cost by Magicians, Sorcerers, Warlocks and Necromancers who undertake a life-long search for knowledge. Although many settle for a living by entertaining the public with simple illusions and harmless spells, a few survive the perils of meddling with the occult to master spells that make even Kings tremble at their power. Clerical Magic, mainly of the healing and supportive type is practised by priests and bishops of the various religions flourishing amongst the human and non-human inhabitants. The village priest combines the duties of spiritual leader and doctor. Northern parts of the Kingdom of Delta

Druidical Magic is quite rare and its proponents tend to live in the depths of the forests or similar lonely

10

areas. The Druids have amazing powers over animals and all types of plants, including crops, and are fiercely protective of them. Although the human colonists brought the flora and fauna of Terra with them, many species could not survive on Skyfall and are now extinct. In some cases, however, local plants and animals have been given Terran names due to some real or imagined similarity to the original. Of the forest trees, only the oak, ash and holly flourish on Skyfall, and are accorded considerable reverence by the Druids as a result. One notable difference between Skyfall and Terra is the absence of a moon. Nights, as a result, are dark and fearsome times when wise folk stay indoors or close to a camp fire. There are no tides, and winds and weather are stable and predictable. Delta is a rich and fertile country, bordered by mountains to east and west, the Sea of Storms to the south and, a few hundred miles to the north by the great icefields. The region between Lake Fraki and the icefields is mainly desolate tundra, roamed by non-human tribes of low intelligence and groups of bandits and barbarians cast out from society. The northern borders of Delta are well protected however. The Glades are the home of the Elven tribes, who permit no other races beneath the ancient massive trees, and The Steading is similarly out-of-bounds to all but the Dwarves, who are ready and willing to defend this, their home, against all comers. Lake Fraki, the Fosse Mountains and the icy waters of the many fast-flowing rivers present formidable natural barriers. Other settled regions lie mainly to the south, although there are civilised countries to the east, and some hundreds of miles to the west, beyond the Great Void Desert.

The Game System Welcome to this adventure book. It is no ordinary novel, for in it you are the leading character - a brave, seasoned adventurer, in a fantasy world. You will take the decisions; you will fight the evil adversaries which stand between you and your goal, and you - with skill and, perhaps, a little good fortune - will eventually solve the mystery and reap your reward. You will create your own story, or rather stories, as you can work through this book many times. No two stories will be the same, as even if you make the same decisions each time, luck will play its part. No special equipment is needed - just a pencil and a coin. Any type of coin will do so long as it has a 'head' and a 'tail'. Use of the Coin At numerous points throughout the book you will need a coin to help resolve the outcome of a particular situation. A simple formula will tell you what is to be done. Here are some examples: 2H means 'toss the coin twice and count the number of heads'. (0, 1 or 2) 3T means 'toss the coin three times and count the number of tails'. (0, 1, 2 or 3) 4H-T means 'toss the coin four times, count the number of heads and deduct the number of tails'.

12 (The resulting number could be anything from +4 to -4) Usually the result of coin-tossing will modify another score, for instance: E+4H means 'toss the coin four times, count the number of heads and add that number to your Expertise score'. 10+4H-T means 'toss the coin four times; count the number of heads and add that number to 10, then subtract the number of tails for your answer' (the result here could be 6, 8, 10, 12 or 14). A bit of practice will soon make you completely familiar with the system. Some people are quite expert at tossing a coin and can frequently produce either heads or tails as required. The idea, of course, is to introduce a random element and, particularly when the coin needs to be tossed three or four times, you may find it better to shake the appropriate number of coins in your closed hand, then open your fingers to reveal the result. (This may also save losing the coin or attracting curious glances if you are reading the book in a public place!) Character Sheet The Character Sheet is used during the adventure to record changes in your three Characteristic Scores (see below), additional weapons and other items you may find, how much food and drink you are carrying and so forth. You may use the Character Sheet provided inside the front cover (in which case use a soft pencil so that the page can be used more than once), copy that sheet on to a separate piece of paper or photocopy the Character Sheet.

13 Your Character Sheet should, at a glance, tell you exactly what your Scores are at any given time, what your character is carrying, what weapons, etc, you can use, how much food and drink you have left and how many potions are available. Make sure you keep it up to date. You may also need a blank sheet of paper for mapping purposes (squared paper is even better). This will be especially helpful if you have a maze type of area to explore. Characteristics You start your adventure with three 'Characteristic Scores' and these scores, perhaps varied from time to time, stay with your character throughout your life. EXPERTISE (E): this mainly represents your skill in fighting with a sword or another weapon, but can also represent your other 'skills of adventuring' - for instance, how well you climb walls or ropes. Your initial E is always 12. VITALITY (V): this mainly represents your physical fitness but can also be regarded as your stamina, determination or will-power. Points of Damage done by an attacker are deducted from the defender's V total. Your initial V is always 20. FORTUNE (F): this mainly represents how fortunate you are in situations where luck can play a part, but can also govern your ability to avoid or withstand magical spells and effects. Your initial F is 10 + 3H-T (i.e. 7, 9, 11 or 13)

14 Note that your V score, though it may change during your adventure, may never be greater than this initial value of 20. Your E and F scores may also change during the adventure, but in this case without limitation, dropping as low as 0 or rising well beyond 13. Your E can even drop below 0, but as F is normally used voluntarily, you may not 'overdraw' your Fortune by going below 0. Record all changes in your score, as soon as they occur, on your Character Sheet. Combat Inevitably, during your quest, you will have to fight evil creatures which oppose you or stand in your way. The combat procedure is very simple and runs in well-defined steps: STEP 1: Is SURPRISE indicated in the text? If not, go straight to STEP 2. If so, 3T is subtracted from the defender's E score (the defender is the one being surprised!) for the first round of combat. Then go to STEP 2. STEP 2: Evaluate E + 4H for yourself, then E + 4H for your opponent. If your result is greater than your opponent's, go to STEP 3. If your opponent's result is greater than yours, go to STEP 4. If the two results are equal, ignore them and start STEP 2 again. (This procedure may occasionally be varied in the text if you are fighting a group of monsters.)

15 though you may USE FORTUNE if you wish (see below). STEP 5: If you or your opponent is dead, that is the end of the combat, otherwise return to STEP 2 and repeat the procedure. Each series of five steps represents one round of combat. As soon as your opponent's V score reaches 0, you have killed it and combat is over. If your V score reaches 0, your character is dead! Of course, you can always start again with a new one, and use the experience gained so far to make different decisions next time. Weapon Damage A dagger does 1 Point of Damage when it hits, and a sword 2 Points. Other weapons, and animals attacking with tooth and claw, will do damage as detailed in the text. Using Fortune At various points in the adventure you will be asked if you want to Use Fortune, perhaps to help you out of a nasty situation, and you may always (if you wish) Use Fortune every time STEP 3 or STEP 4 occurs in combat.

STEP 3: You have hit your opponent; you may either subtract your normal weapon damage from your opponent's V score, then go to STEP 5 or USE FORTUNE (see below) before going to STEP 5.

Other than in combat, Using Fortune requires you to subtract the stated number of points (perhaps modified by coin-tossing - see the individual instructions) from your current F score to achieve a particular result. In general, the easier the result you want, the smaller will be the loss in F points, whereas to bring about a really lucky turn of events will demand a large F point sacrifice. Specific cases will occur in the text - make your decision at the time.

STEP 4: Your opponent has hit you ; subtract the appropriate number of Damage Points (given in the text) from your V score and go to STEP 5 afterwards,

Fortune in Combat: You can use Fortune every time combat reaches STEP 3 or STEP 4. In STEP 3 you can

17

16 give up a Fortune point and add 1 to the damage you do, so that you can subtract an extra 1 point from your opponent's V score. You may only add 1 point in any round of combat.

Sometimes you will be given the opportunity to buy or hire the means to carry more supplies and equipment: canoe, pack-mule, etc. Again you will need to note your Character Sheet accordingly.

In STEP 4 you can give up FORTUNE points to reduce the wound you have suffered, so that you can subtract 1 less from your own V score than is otherwise indicated, for each Fortune point so sacrificed. You may reduce your own wound as much as you like in this way. Note that using FORTUNE either in combat or otherwise, is normally optional; if you decide not to use FORTUNE, so be it. However, occasionally you may have to Use Fortune to survive Magical effects in a particular situation.

The provisions you carry represent one way to recover lost Vitality Points. The combination of a good meal and eight hours rest enables you to add 4 Points to your current Vitality Score. Note that you can only do this ,once per day, and may never increase V beyond 20.

Your F score can be very important - don't waste F points simply to hasten the demise of a weak creature which probably won't harm you anyway, but try to preserve them and build them up for the big occasion! You can gain F points during the adventure - but you will only discover how to do so by playing the game. Equipment and Provisions As noted on your Character Sheet, you always start an adventure with your Sword, a Dagger and a light leather backpack containing enough provisions (food and drink) for two days. You are also assumed to have certain mundane items in your possession - fifty feet of rope, some torches, flint, steel and tinderbox - and if any of these become of use to you, that use will be mentioned in the text. You may find other useful items along your journey; when finding one, note it on your Character Sheet if you intend to keep it, otherwise you must assume you forgot to take it along. Similarly, cross off any item which you lose, use up or break.

In this adventure, the main events will take place in a relatively small space of time, possibly even within the one night, and in this case you may not need the meal and rest. If you do, however, you may take the meal and rest in any area where you are alone and unmenaced, and it will be assumed that you rest throughout the hours of daylight and take up the adventure the following night. Do not forget to amend your Provisions and Vitality figures if you do this. You also have three draughts of a Potion of Healing at the start of your adventure. One draught may be taken at any time (except during combat) and has the effect of adding 8 points to your current V score (though never increasing it to more than 20).

Hints on Play

This adventure book has been structured carefully to reward the thinking player and to penalise the careless. Each time you are presented with multiple choices, the choice you select should be a rational one, based on hints and clues you may have already obtained, common sense and your current V and F scores. If, for example, one choice permits you to divert from your path to fight a fearsome monster, you might be well advised to ignore this choice if your V and F score are currently low (on the other hand, if you are in good health and enjoy good fortune at the moment, the monster might have some rich treasure, including a useful magical item). Preserve your Characteristic Scores carefully. If your current V score is low, try to find a resting place where you can safely eat and drink before you bump into an enemy. Use a draught of your Potion of Healing if you have to, but you start with only three draughts so they are very precious. Try to retain at least a reasonable F score at all times so that you have enough points to rescue you from an unexpected and dangerous situation. When thinking of using Fortune in Combat, don't forget that one F point is 'worth' much more than one V point; V points can be restored by food and drink or by potions, but restoring F points is not so easy. You may be lucky enough to obtain them during the

adventure but will nevertheless have much less control over them than V points, so guard F carefully and use Fortune in Combat only in dire necessity. This is a difficult and dangerous mission; you will be clever and fortunate indeed if you succeed on your first attempt. On your second (and maybe subsequent) attempt, use the experience and knowledge you gained earlier to help you. However, you may NOT use any equipment or items found on an earlier attempt as that will have been lost with your character. You start each adventure with just sword, dagger, backpack, provisions and three draughts of Potion. If you are interrupted, or lose your place when tossing a coin or referring to your Character Sheet, you may find it pays either to use a bookmark or to keep a note of the paragraphs as you read them. The description of Skyfall may give you some clues to assist your quest, and the map should also be helpful. Bear in mind, however, that you may be visiting places from which few have returned, so the map may not be accurate in details of little-known areas.

The Garden of Madness

Introduction 'His Highness Prince Elrindell,' announces the man by the door, and those of you in the room spring respectfully to your feet. The middle-aged man who enters is dressed in form-fitting black, lightened only by white lace at cuffs and throat, with a jewelled star on his right breast. The worn hilt of a slim sword protrudes from the scabbard hanging at his belt, and even in these well-guarded chambers his hand never strays far from it. He crosses the room towards you. As you make an awkward bow he says courteously, 'Thank you for coming here. I have heard about your exploits, and I have been looking forward to this meeting.' He gestures you to a chair beside a massive carved desk. 'Be seated. May I offer you some wine?' As a liveried attendant hands you a beautifully engraved silver goblet, you reflect on the surprising events of the last few days that have brought you to this mysterious private meeting in the royal palace. Your recent adventures in and around Delta have obviously been the subject of much discussion in the capital, Tan-Delta. From the first day of your visit persons of rank and prominence have sought you out, sometimes to congratulate you and sometimes to invite you to a variety of parties and events but always, you have sensed, taking the opportunity to appraise your character and abilities.

24

Not long afterwards a rather more pressing invitation arrived. It was delivered by a group of six well-armed men and women, dressed like adventurers but behaving more like soldiers, who requested you to accompany them to meet their leader, Prince Elrindell. The Prince, brother-in-law to the Deltan King, is rumoured to be the head of a number of the more secret sections of the royal services. It was obvious that his 'invitation' could not be lightly refused. Those delivering it indicated that any such refusal would be taken as a personal affront. The Prince treats you with every appearance of friendliness, however, and asks about your excursions into the mining country of the eastern mountains, and your exploration of the Groaning Desert, the vast wilderness to the west of Delta. Then, apparently satisfied with your replies to his questions, he finally explains the reason for your summons. A Royal Wedding is about to take place and is, indeed, the reason for your visit to the capital, to see the sights and join in the celebrations. The King's daughter, the Princess Wanda, is due to marry the son and heir of Grand Duke Ramex, Ruler of Lima, a powerful and not always friendly country some few hundred miles to the west, beyond the Great Void desert. The Deltans, though sorry to be losing their popular princess, are pleased with the thought that these powerful allies might be expected to assist in due course with an expedition to crush the bands of outlaws, barbarians and hostile humanoids which infest the northern wastelands. You now learn, with dawning horror, that all these expectations are likely to be dashed. The Princess is not even in Tan-Delta, but many miles away at The Castle of Flowers, the stronghold of the Margrave of

25

Shekar, which commands the only pass through the Fosse Mountains. And, far from marrying the young Duke Rupert, the Margrave plans to marry her to one of the worst ruffians of the northern wastes, the leader of a barbarian horde who styles himself Belfont of Giles, on the same day set for the Royal Wedding. So far, all this has been kept secret in the capital. Preparations for the Royal Wedding have been allowed to proceed, troops have been moved up to the northern reaches of the Halberd river, and even the prospective bridegroom and his Liman entourage have been kept in the dark. Prince Elrindell had a spy in the Margrave's stronghold itself and has received several important pieces of information from that source. Firstly, the Margrave has turned traitor and intends to open the mountain pass as an invasion route into Delta for an alliance of the most powerful of the Northern bands. Once the King's armies are overcome, he intends to place the Princess on the throne, to rule as a puppet for her barbarian husband and himself. Secondly, the Princess appears to be under the effect of a magical potion, as she seems utterly besotted with the unprepossessing Belfont. Finally, although the Castle holds the Margrave's own men, as well as the Giles followers, the other forces from the north will not arrive until after the wedding, which will set the seal on the alliance and is to be witnessed by all the northern leaders. The Prince explains that his spy was also a talented limner, constantly employed in the castle, painting armorial crests and emblazoned shields, as well as more mundane undertakings such as inn-signs and craft-guild insignia. Along with certain completed

26 commissions he had managed to smuggle out some brief messages. 'Had?' you ask, half afraid of the answer, 'Indeed,' replies the Prince. 'Somehow he gave himself away and they executed him. However, he managed to shout one last message from the scaffold, before they gagged him. One of the witnesses says he cried, "The garden - remember Vaspago!'" You shrug wordlessly. For some minutes you have realised there can be only one reason why you are being told all this, but there is a cold sensation down your spine as it dawns on you that it can be unhealthy to be in possession of information that rulers want kept secret. Clearing your throat, you ask if you are to go in alone. The Prince smiles for the first time and outlines the plan. The Castle of Flowers is built on a pinnacle of rock at the southern end of the pass, connected to the road on its ledge by a stout drawbridge, guarded by day and raised at night. The Halberd river plunges over a sheer, two hundred feet drop just above this point, forming a foaming torrent beneath the drawbridge. To the south of the crag on which their castle stands, the Shekar family had, during their early years of ownership, set out many acres of gardens, small copses and reserves for deer and the gentler creatures of the forest. So renowned were the gardens that the castle itself had been named for the year-round blossoms at its feet. Later, the fifth Margrave, a powerful Sorcerer known as Mad Proquil, had used the gardens for darker purposes, producing dangerous carnivorous plants. Under the present Margrave and his father, these

The Margrave's Stronghold

28 gardens had been allowed to run wild, and were now seldom visited. The Prince believes, however, that there is a way down from the castle, through the crag on which it stands, into the garden, as in earlier times ladies from the castle had been observed there when it was known they had not made the long descent via the bridge and road. He is sure that his spy's last words refer to this, and 'Vaspago' must be some sort of clue. He will arrange for a force of cavalry to escort you to the woods a mile or so south of the gardens, where they will wait for your return with, hopefully, the Princess. The court magician will supply you with an antidote to the potion which has bewitched her, and if she can be returned in time for the wedding, no one need be any the wiser. 'Except me!' you exclaim. For a long moment the Prince regards you with pursed lips, then laughs aloud. 'Yes indeed,' he acknowledges. 'You and my people here, and the cavalry who escort you, plus everyone at the Castle of Flowers. However, once you have the Princess safe, I fancy the so-called alliance will fall apart, and our troops will go in to deal with the Margrave. He won't be in a position to say anything, my people will follow orders, and I fancy we can reward you sufficiently well to ensure your silence. In fact, I think perhaps the ranks of the aristocracy could be improved by the addition of someone of your talents.' Seeing your look of disbelief he adds quietly, 'I already have his Majesty's agreement.'

29 'But why me?' you persist. 'Why a stranger and not one of your trusted followers?' He regards you calmly. 'We have to consider the possibility that you might be caught. If you are, a former adventurer with no known connection with the authorities . . . we should deny all knowledge of the affair.' You realize that the first concern of those making a career in government service must be to ensure that no blame for failure sticks to them. 'So,' you acknowledge, 'no rescue if things go wrong.' He shakes his head. 'Best to make sure it doesn't!' he warns. 'Be sure to keep this prominently displayed when you meet the princess: the sight of her fiance may help.' He hands you a miniature of Duke Rupert on a thong to hang around your neck.

1-2

1 On the evening of the third day after your visit to Prince Elrindell's office, you find yourself on the edge of a small wood with the officer of your escort. Deeper in the wood men speak soothingly to the horses as they settle down to a cold night's camp. Fires have been firmly forbidden for fear of betraying your presence to any sharp-eyed lookouts in the castle, nearly two miles away. A sergeant comes up to pass you an unlit lantern and two spare oil flasks. Add these to your Character Sheet along with the Potion of Disenchantment which was handed to you in Tan-Delta. They wish you good fortune, and you remind them that, if you have not returned by dawn on the third day, they should return and report your failure to the prince. Three nights and two days should be enough to accomplish your mission, and beyond that there would not be sufficient time to get back to the capital before the wedding. Turn to 82. 2

Before you have fully recovered, you become aware of movement within the room, and struggle to control your numbed senses. Something large is approaching you in a clumsy, jerky fashion. Peering against the glare, you are able to make out that it is a repulsive greenish-brown all over, with three squat legs, an oval body and one short but powerful looking arm held threateningly in the air as if ready to strike. There seem to be a number of orifices near the end of this 'arm'. If you stay where you are by the door, turn to 41.

Ready to strike with its powerful arm

3-5

If you dodge away into the worn before the creature gets too close, turn to 57. Should you prefer to leave this noisome room through the black door, turn to 9. 3

If you attack the Wyvern you will have the benefit of SURPRISE (as outlined in the Game System) for the first round of combat. Thereafter the Wyvern will fight back and the fine gold chain will break in an early stage of the combat. Turn to 8 if you attacked the red Wyvern; 10 if you went for the green; and 15 if you chose the blue one.

6-8 hanging vertically over the shaft, is a metal ladder. This looks about 30 feet long, but there are hinges at the bottom with a shorter section folded up against the lower part of the ladder. The whole thing is suspended from a pulley, with a rope leading to a winch at one side of the room. This is obviously designed to raise and lower the ladder so that one can descend through the shaft, using the folding section to avoid the foul-smelling tank below. If you wish to lower the ladder, turn to 338. Looking around the room, you find the only other exits are three painted doors. If you open the red one, turn to 117. Should you take the grey one, turn to 122. While if you try the purple one, turn to 210.

4

You turn the iron handle with some difficulty, and the door opens a fraction of an inch before sticking. The frame seems to have warped, and you have to use all your strength to force the door open. Beyond is complete blackness, and a dry musty smell. Cautiously you enter, push the door shut behind you and fumble to produce a flame to light your lantern. When this is accomplished, you are able to examine your surroundings. Turn to 49. 5

You are standing in a circular room. In the centre of the floor is a shaft which leads down through the rock for 20 feet into another room below. The ceiling is dome-shaped, and some 40 feet high at the centre above the shaft. Suspended from the ceiling, and

6

Unlike most of the rooms and passages within the crag, which have been in pitch darkness, the room beyond the blue door is brightly lit. It takes a few moments for your eyes to adjust, then you step inside a very strange room. Turn to 22. 7

Once again you feel your way along the base of the cliff and, after perhaps twenty yards, your fingertips brush over a wooden surface. Quickly, you trace the outline of a door six feet high and three feet wide. There is a rusty iron handle. Turn to 28. 8 The red Wyvern has an Expertise of 14, Vitality 15 and

9-10 will do 3 Points of Damage with fangs and claws if it hits you. In addition, it MAY breathe fire over you in any round for an additional 5 Points of Damage. Luckily for you, it is not very intelligent, and will forget to breathe on you in each round that you cross off a Fortune Point from your Character Sheet. (Thus it would obviously be as well if you kill it before you run out of Fortune Points!) Stepping in or out of the pentagram will not save you, as the Wyvern will pursue you around the room if necessary. It is faster than you, and will block any attempt to escape via doors or stairs or, indeed, into another pentagram! If you manage to kill it, turn to 131. Should it kill you, turn to 333. 9

You are standing beside a black, metal door with no visible handle, roughly half-way along a passage six feet wide and ten feet high. At one end of the passage a flight of steps curves downwards towards the right, while at the other the passage ends at a blue door. If you open the black door, turn to 25. If you move to the blue door, turn to 14. Should you wish to descend the stairs, turn to 206. 10 The green Wyvem has an Expertise of 13, Vitality 9 and will do 4 Points of Damage with its talons and particularly sharp fangs if it hits you. In addition, it MAY breathe on you in any round for an additional 1 Point of Damage from its acid breath. Luckily for you, it is not particularly intelligent, and

11-12 will forget to breathe on you in each round that you cross a Fortune Point off your Character Sheet. Stepping in or out of the pentagram will not stop its attack, and it is sufficiently faster than you to be able to block any attempt to escape through doors, down stairs or into other pentagrams. If you succeed in killing it, turn to 147. Should it kill you, turn to 333. 11 Somehow your feet seem unwilling to obey your mental commands to move away from this square of glass, and you realise a magical spell is beginning to hold you. If you delete one Fortune Point from your Character Sheet you will be able to break free, and turn to 242. Otherwise you stand rooted to the spot and must turn to 107. 12 The figure stands erect, and the hair stirs at the nape of your neck as you take in the details. The armour is of an ancient pattern, with separate pieces to cover chest, forearms, thighs and shins. There are metal gauntlets, an open-fronted helmet, and the gauntlets hold a shield and mighty sword. At that time, the armourers had not perfected the armoured joints necessary for full plate-mail, and knees, elbows and upper arms were left uncovered. Now, where you would expect to see the limbs, there is only empty air, and there is no face visible either. A deep voice echoes around the room. 'I am the Guardian of the Way. None may pass save those of true Shekarian blood. Begone from this place, or join me here forever.'

13-15 If you leave through the white door, turn to 100. If you advance to try to pass this guardian, turn to 161. Should you stay where you are and try to negotiate a safe passage, turn to 148. 13 Once clear of the flowerbed you huddle in the corner of the room to regain your breath. If you wish, you may take a Potion at this point. One of the mauve flowers still seems to be watching you, but for the moment you are left alone. When ready, you make your way to the door, keeping close to the wall of the room. If you have arrived at the brown door, turn to 29, or if you have gone to the blue one, then turn to 38. 14 You have arrived at a blue painted door at the end of a six foot wide, ten foot high passage in the rock. At the far end of the passage a stairway curves down towards the right, while half-way along the passage on the left hand side is a dull, black, metal door. If you open the blue door, turn to 59. If you move to the black door, instead, turn to 9. Should you prefer to descend the stairs, turn to 206. 15

The blue Wyvern has an Expertise of 11, Vitality 13 and will do 5 points of damage with its fangs and razor-sharp talons if it manages to hit you. In addition, it MAY breathe a bolt of lightning on you in any round. If this happens you will take 3 Points of Damage and

The Guardian of the Way

18-19

16-17 will be forced to drop your weapon. You would then either have to draw another or bend to retrieve the dropped one, giving your opponent the benefit of SURPRISE for one round. Luckily for you, this is not a very intelligent specimen, and will forget to breathe on you in each round that you delete a Fortune Point from your Character Sheet. It is quite fast, however. Wherever you go it will pursue you, and will block any attempt to escape through doors, down stairs or into other pentagrams. If you manage to kill it, turn to 163. Should it kill you, turn to 333. 16 At this point a staircase leads down from one end of a thirty feet long, ten feet wide passage. In the passage are three doors: the one at the far end is silver, half-way along on the left is a pale blue door, while opposite that is a dark yellow one. If you walk along the passage, turn to 64. If you wish to go down the stairs then turn to 139. 17 Taking the lantern from your pack, you produce your fire-making equipment and soon manage to light the wick. The pit is clearly revealed as a place of horror. Here and there on the floor are the carcases of several animals, gradually decomposing on to a mass of roots, which appear to be feeding upon them. The pale shapes which attacked you prove to be hideous yellow flowers, over a foot across and with hard serrated edges which could effect a nasty bite. No doubt these same 'mouths' were used to throw the stripped bones clear of the pit later on.

With a shudder, you turn and clamber from the pit and start crossing the area of bones to get back to the base of the cliff. For the last minute or two you have been aware of distant cries from the castle above. Now, you hear a faint whistling noise. Turn to 130. 18 Here at the base of the castle rock, with the towering cliffs of the Fosse Mountains not far away to the north and west, the night seems very dark and you can barely make out your hand before your face. If you light your lantern, turn to 50. If you make your way east, guided by one hand feeling along the rock wall, turn to 66. 19 The stairs wind up to your right, and you think you have climbed about forty feet when you emerge in the centre of a circular room some fifty feet across. The ceiling is over twenty feet high and three large doors are spaced evenly around the room, one coloured red, one green and the other blue. The most noticeable feature of the room, however, is the creatures that stand in front of the doors. You recognise them as Wyverns, a relatively small sub-species of Dragonkind only some ten feet tall. Wyverns walk on their hindlegs and fight with their viciously clawed front legs and their fangs. Like dragons they come in a variety of colours, and have similar breath-weapons: the red ones are most common and breathe fire, you believe the blue ones breathe lightning, but you have no idea about the others. These three each match the doors they appear to be guarding. Turn to 32.

20-22 20

You systematically search the room, looking for cracks in the walls which could indicate secret doors, tapping for hollow sounds, getting down on hands and knees to examine the floor and even standing on the table to take a closer look at the ceiling. All this is without avail. If you decide to leave the room to try elsewhere along the cliff, you extinguish your lantern before heaving open the green door, then step through, close it behind you and turn to 199. Should you decide to see if any of the gardening tools are of use, turn to 36. 21 In view of the odds against you, victory against this creature is something of a miracle. Add 2 Fortune Points to your Character Sheet, and you may take one of your Potions if you wish to cure some wounds. This will not help your illness, however: for this you need something that specifically Cures Disease. If you decide to leave this room to seek it, turn to 37. Should you prefer to stay, turn to 73. 22 This square-shaped room is one of the largest you have yet encountered within the crag, being at least a hundred feet across. The only exits you can see are two doors facing each other in the centre of two of the walls. One is painted blue and the other brown. On either side are large areas of earth behind low retaining walls, with a twenty feet wide passage between them leading from one door to the other. This passage is badly obstructed by the plants growing in

A life or death struggle between the plants

23-24 the beds of earth. Not only that, there seems to be some sort of struggle going on between the plants. The whole room is lit by brightly glowing panels set into the ceiling, which remind you very much of those you saw in an earlier adventure (in The Black Pyramid). Turn to 54. 23

You decide to stick to the weapon you know best, and continue slashing blindly at the writhing brambles which lash at you from all directions. Those holding you tighten their grip, inflicting 2 more Points of Damage, then a particularly savage tug at one leg overbalances you and you fall full length into the seething mass. Immediately your limbs are imprisoned by a multitude of barbed strands and you are rapidly slashed and torn to death over the next few minutes. Turn to 333. 24

Opening the small door, you find a short passage ending at a flight of stairs leading upwards. The stairs are barely two feet wide, and your shoulders brush the rock on each side. After a few feet the rock turns to carved blocks of stone, and you realise you must have reached the castle itself. When you feel you have climbed about forty feet, the stairs end. A narrow passage leads off to either side, curving slightly away from you, and you decide you are probably inside the walls of one of the main towers. If you go to the right, turn to 26. While if you go left, turn to 31.

25-27 25

To your great surprise, the area on the other side of the dull, black door, is as light as day. The sudden contrast from the relatively dim light of your lantern blinds you for a moment, but quite apart from that your nostrils are assaulted by an overwhelming stench. Rubbing your eyes and trying hard to breathe, you sag against the door, aware only that it makes a solitary black patch in an otherwise white wall. If you push your way back out through the door, turn to 9. Should you stay to examine the room, turn to 2.

26 Progress is slow along this narrow, curving passage, and the numbers of cobwebs you have to brush away indicate it must be many years since it was last used. After about fifty feet the passage ends at the foot of another flight of steps, still curving and presumably leading higher up inside the tower. Just at the foot of the steps, part of the wall on your left about six feet high by three feet wide has been painted white. You stop to look at it. Turn to 58. 27 Having decided to leave the room with the picture-lined wall, and the recently-appeared view through the empty frame, you step to the purple door and pass through it into a circular room. The purple door closes behind you. Should you return this way, you will find the room with the pictures has reverted to its original appearance. Turn to 5.

31-32

28-30 28

You stand outside a closed door in the base of the pinnacle of rock. If you turn the rusty iron handle to open the door, turn to 204. Should you move away from the door, along the base of the cliff, turn to 66 if you go west, or 108 if you go east. If you have company, you will want to return to the woods where you left your escort, and should turn to 370. If you return alone, turn to 354. 29 The plants return to their age-old combat as you step through the brown door, and you wonder apprehensively if you will have to come back this way. On the other side is a small room ten feet square, with steps leading upwards from an opening in the far wall and curving round to the right out of sight. There are tables on each side of the room, both holding odd-looking contraptions. If you wish to examine these more closely, turn to 102. If you prefer to ignore them and climb the stairs, turn to 19. 30 The door is heavy, but, once you heave powerfully enough to start it moving, opens readily enough. When you step through, it slowly swings back into place with a heavy thud against the stout wooden frame. On one side of the door is a large cave, and on the other a passage leading to a stairway.

If you are in the cave, turn to 292. If you are in the passage, turn to 64. 31 This narrow passage keeps curving gradually to your right as you make your way along. The dust is deep beneath your feet and you have continually to brush away the cobwebs which hang thickly before you. After nearly two hundred feet the passage straightens, and some sixty feet further on comes to a dead end. However, a section of the righthand wall, at the very end, has been painted black. It is just about the right shape for a door. Carefully you search around it. One of the stones beside it is free from mortar and slightly recessed. You imagine this may well cause the door (if such it is) to open, but you find no peephole to let you know what is on the other side. You listen, but can hear nothing. If you try to move the recessed stone, turn to 112. Should you prefer to go back to the flight of steps, turn to 301. 32 For a while you hesitate at the top of the steps, wondering whether the best course would be to go back down. Even one Wyvern is a formidable opponent, while three . ..! Then you realise that they are standing absolutely motionless. You cannot even see them breathing. Cautiously you move a little closer to one of them, and still there is no movement. When you get quite close, you discover two probably significant facts. Each stands in one of the increasingly familiar pentagrams, which in this case have been etched into the floor with lines that gleam faintly with a golden

33-35

light. Also each appears to be tethered by a fine gold chain to the door behind it. The chain is looped over a hook in the centre of the door, and fastened to a harness about the Wyvern's shoulders. Each door has a handle, and appears to open away from you. In order to reach the handle and pass through the door you would have to enter the pentagram. If you are prepared to do this, turn to 51. (For the moment it does not matter which door you choose.) If not, your only alternative is to go back down the stairs, turning to 35. 33 You feel your way along the base of the cliff for a further fifty yards, then your fingers encounter a wooden surface instead of the smooth rock. Quickly you trace the outline of a door, six feet high and three feet wide. There is a rusty iron handle. Turn to 199. 34

You stand at the south eastern corner of the castle rock. Despite the clear sky, the darkness down here is almost total, and a chill wind blows spray from the falls around you. If you feel your way westwards, with one hand against the rock wall, turn to 98. If you decide to light the lantern so that you can see what you are doing, then turn to 114 35 Leaving the circular room, you descend a spiral staircase which takes you down some forty feet to an opening in one wall of a small, square room. On the far side you can see a brown door, and to the left and right

A Wyvern stands motionless in each pentagram

36-37 are tables, each holding a strange device. If you have already examined these before, and used them to the full, you will now carry on and open the door. Should you wish to examine the devices, and have not done so before, turn to 102. If you open the door, turn to 349. 36 The tools all prove too rusty to be of use or even to exhibit in a museum, except for the wooden hoe. When you try to remove it from its pegs you find it is all of one piece with them. What is more, when you try to pull the lower end away from the wall, the upper end hinges, complete with pegs, and there is a loud click, followed by a rumbling noise as the entire wall tilts upwards and away from you. Beyond is another room, quite empty, with a flight of steps leading upwards at the far side. The moving wall now forms the ceiling of this room, with the hoe/lever conveniently hanging down. If you push the hoe back upwards towards the ceiling, turn to 68. If you cross the new room to the stairs, turn to 81. 37 The only exit now available to you is through the black door. Racked by coughs and struggling to breathe, you stagger through, leaving a slimy trail on the floor. The door swings shut behind you, and you are in pitch darkness - your lantern must be at the bottom of the tank! A wave of nausea overcomes you, and you can neither find the energy to push back into the lighted room or grovel in the noisome tank for your sole means of

38-40

illumination. Defeated, you lie in the darkness and wait for the end. Turn to 333. 38

You are standing by a blue door, half-way along a thirty foot passage. The door has no handle, and appears to open away from you. If you push it open, turn to 6. Otherwise, turn to 64. 39 Pulling the cork from the flask, you empty the oil on to the surrounding brambles then ready your flint, steel and tinderbox. Creating a flame with all this paraphernalia is no easy matter in the middle of a mass of live brambles, and you will need a fair measure of skill. Calculate E + 4H - T: you will need a score of 14 to succeed, but may sacrifice Fortune Points on a one-for-one basis to modify your score. You will also suffer 2 more Points of Damage while engaged in this exercise, and should amend your Character Sheet appropriately. If you fail, this means you have dropped your tinderbox and must delete it from your Character Sheet. You now have no means of creating a light, and should turn back to 194 to choose another course. Should the 2 Damage points kill you, turn to 333. If you succeed, turn to 71. 40 The small door opens to reveal a blank wall. Puzzled, you tap and feel around it, but it is completely solid. An exhaustive search will not reveal any other way out

41-42

The peephole reveals a blonde sleeper

of this room than the one by which you entered, and this is the way, eventually, you will have to leave it. If you open the large door, turn to 88. Should you pause first to disentangle the end of the thin gold chain from the pins on the back of the door, turn to 104. 41 The approaching creature is slow and ponderous, and although its powerful arm looks an intimidating weapon, it is barely three feet long. Then, when the creature is ten feet away and you have just made up your mind whether to retreat around the room or through the door, it strikes! The arm stretches alarmingly to beat at you with the horny growth which surrounds the orifices near the tip. For this first round of combat the creature has the benefits of SURPRISE, as outlined in the Game System. Its Expertise is 11, its Vitality 30 and that powerful arm does 4 Points of Damage if it hits you. However, it is so slow that you can escape from combat at any time if you wish. If the first blow hits you, turn to 185 unless the Damage killed you, in which case turn to 333. If the blow missed, then you have two choices available: — You can continue the fight by turning to 105. Or you can escape for the moment by moving quickly on around the room. The creature is too close now for you to get through the door, and you should turn to 57. 42 Pressing your eye to the hole in the white-painted area of the wall, you are able to make out a dimly lit room

43 beyond. The light is steady, as if from a lantern that has been turned right down. You can see a bed with someone apparently asleep in it, two chairs, some sets of drawers, a cupboard and a mirror. Your hectic adventures since entering the honeycomb of passages and rooms within the crag have rather led you to lose your sense of time, but you are sure it must be well after midnight. Most of the castle inhabitants should now be asleep. Peering at the bed, you are able to make out a considerable amount of blonde hair on the pillow. If you press the recessed block of stone, turn to 79. If you leave the spy-hole and climb the steps, turn to 72.

43 You succeed in breaking the six feet square sheet of glass, and the fragments tinkle to the ground at the foot of the wall. The fog beyond is rapidly compressed into a small, grey ball, which then explodes in a flash of light. You are hurled backwards to the floor and take six points of damage.(Please amend your Character Sheet) If this is sufficient to kill you, turn to 333. Picking yourself up, you find that there is now a blank wall where the glass had been, with no sign of a space where the fog had previously swirled. You go over to push and tap at the wall, but it is quite solid. You have effectively destroyed all the unusual aspects of this room, which is now an ordinary picture gallery. Whatever you do in here, nothing will happen, and you will be unable to discover another way out.

44-46 Sooner or later you will have to leave through the purple door. If you should find yourself in this room again, remember that the glass is broken and no magical events will take place. You may take a Potion of Healing, if you wish, before leaving. If so, remember to amend your Character Sheet. Now turn to 210. 44 Feeling your way carefully along the base of the cliff with the fingers of your right hand, you move slowly through the almost complete darkness towards the west. After twenty yards you come to a second door. Tracing the outline you find it to be the same size as the first, and again there is a rusty iron handle. Turn to 28. 45 Half-way across the flower-bed you somehow manage to attract the plant's attention, and one of the red flowers turns in your direction. If you duck, and huddle on the hard earth, turn to 52. If you make a run for it towards the far side, turn to 189. Should you prefer to freeze against the rock wall, turn to 166. 46 You raise the ladder and are relieved to find the top

47-48 rests a few inches above the bottom of the hole in the ceiling. If the creature in the room is dead, turn to 110.

49-50 seem to be facing in your direction, and there is movement among the creepers lying on the earth nearby.

If the creature is still alive, but distracted, turn to 78.

If you decide to cross the bed, keeping near the wall, turn to 132 if you go slowly and cautiously, or 80 if you run across as fast as possible.

Should it be making its way around the central tank towards you, turn to 94.

Should you decide against it after all, you make your way back to the door, and should turn to 86.

47 Beyond the red door lies a square room, twenty feet across, and quite empty. In the centre of the far wall is a small door, only four feet high and little more than two feet wide. If you shut the red door and cross the room to open this small door, turn to 24. If not, you shut the red door again, staying in the circular room, and should turn to 32 ignoring the first two paragraphs.

49 You are in a room carved from the solid rock. The air is stale, and you can imagine that the door has not been open for a long time, possibly several years. At some long distant date it was painted green, but appears to have warped so that it requires quite an effort to open or shut. Around the walls lie and lean a considerable number of gardening tools, all somewhat the worse for rust except for one hoe with a wooden, rather than a metal, blade, which hangs from a pair of pegs on the far wall. In the centre of the room is a long table, with several wooden drinking vessels, and six chairs are spaced around it. There is no sign of any way out except through the green door. If you wish to search the room, turn to 20.

48 Keeping close to the wall, you make your way to the corner of the room. Looking along the side-wall, across the rear of the bed in which the lighter green of the plants are growing, you can see that the earth there appears much less fertile than along the front of the bed bordering the passage. Indeed, few of the plants grow nearer than six feet to the well. You wonder if the plants are aware of you, however. Certainly several of the mauve snapdragon flowers

If you prefer to leave through the green door, you first extinguish your lantern, then step through to the darkness outside, shutting the door behind you and turning to 199.

50 The lantern glow helps considerably, and you confidently stride forward, along the southern face of

51-52 the sheer rock. Here and there are clumps of wild brambles growing against the cliff, which you assumed were once cultivated roses and fruit bushes. Avoiding them takes you away from the base of the rock, and a sudden outcry from above seems to indicate that your light has been seen. Just then, at the limit of your lantern-light, you catch a glimpse of a door, set in the cliff face. Hurrying forward, you notice that it has been painted, some long time ago, a dark purple colour. Then you become aware of a faint whistling noise from above. Turn to 130. 51 As you step into the pentagram, a shudder runs through the great, scaly body, and the massive head turns to look at you. Fortunately, that is as far as it goes: you stare into the fierce eyes, but it makes no hostile move. If you step back out of the pentagram, turn to 67. If you open the door, turn to 83. Should you draw a weapon and attack the Wyvern, turn to 3. If you cut the thin gold chain that tethers the Wyvern to the door, turn to 99. And if you unhook the chain, turn to 115. 52 Cradling your head in your arms, you crouch on the hard earth as the red flower puffs a cloud of spores over you. Your actions avoid the full effects, but you are still badly burned and suffer 5 Points of Damage. If this kills you, turn to 333.

The red flower puffs a cloud of spores

53-54

55-56

Should you survive, you are not free from trouble yet. Looking up, you see another flower pointing in your direction.

touch the pale plant it shrivels and drops to the ground. One of the spores lands on the back of your hand and immediately raises a nasty blister. You wonder how long this struggle has been going on and, indeed, how you can hope to cross the room.

Turn to 45. 53

You watch as the creature stands motionless by the large central tank for several minutes. Then it pulls its arm clear and, still ignoring you, makes its way to the circular pool. Again it plunges its arm in, but this time stirs it to and fro for a minute. Next it raises the arm vertically in the air, and proceeds to the third tank. Here it lowers its arm, and decants a mere drop or two of liquid into the existing puddle. As you ponder this strange sequence of events it appears to become aware of you again, and resumes its laboured pursuit. Turn to 57. 54

The plants in the two beds of earth are quite different from each other. Those on one side are a dark, bluish-green in colour, with occasional large, dark red, tulip-shaped flowers, while those on the other side are a much paler green, almost yellow in colour, with mauve flowers like large snapdragon blooms. Both have sent strong-looking creepers across the gap between, and these creepers wrestle with each other as if to force their way to the other side, while keeping the others away from their own soil. While you watch, one stout blue-green creeper has found a bare part of the passage and approached the wall around its rival. Several of the snapdragons now fasten upon it and quickly rip it to shreds. As if in revenge one of the red flowers points in that direction and puffs out a small cloud of spores. Where these

If you decide against trying and prefer to leave the way you came, turn to 64 if you stand by the blue door, and 70 if you are by the brown one. If you are determined to cross the room, turn to 86. 55 The flask shatters against the cliff, and you can hear the oil splash down onto the brambles beneath. You now have to ignite it. Using flint, steel and tinderbox can take some little time and is not ideally undertaken when under attack from barbed tendrils lashing at you like stout whips. Calculate E + 4H — T: you will need a score of 14 to succeed in creating a flame but may sacrifice Fortune Points on a one-for-one basis to modify your score. You will also suffer 2 more Points of Damage while engaged in this exercise and should amend your Character Sheet accordingly. Should this kill you, turn to 333. If you achieve a score of 14, you ignite a small flame in your tinderbox, and should turn to 103. If you fail, this means you have dropped your tinderbox and must delete it from your Character Sheet. You now have no means to create a light, and should turn back to 162 to try something else. 56 You open the small door and are mightily surprised to

57-58 find a blank wall just behind it. For a while you tap at it to try to find a hollow spot, then you may try the rest of the room, but eventually you will discover that the only way out is the way you came in.

59-60 If not, you put your lantern down on the floor. Then If you peer through the hole, turn to 42. If you press the recessed block of stone, turn to 79.

When you are ready to leave If you open the large door, turn to 88. Should you pause first to disentangle the end of the thin gold chain from the pins on the back of the door, turn to 104. 57 Deciding that it may not be a good idea to let this creature get too close, you move rapidly out of its way. For a moment or two it pauses, turning the tip of its arm from side to side, then starts towards you again. Its movements are slow, however, and you have no difficulty in keeping out of its way so long as you do not stay too long in one place. Moving around the room gives you a chance to survey your surroundings which are brightly lit by glowing, golden-coloured panels set along the centre of the ceiling. You may recall seeing something very similar on your adventures in The Black Pyramid.* Turn to 73. 58

When you look closer at this white-painted section of the wall, you notice that half-way up to the right one of the blocks of stone is slightly recessed. Also, there seems to be a small hole, rather over five feet above the floor, in the centre of the white area. If you wish to continue up the steps, turn to 72. * The second adventure in the Legends of Sky fall series.

59 Opening the blue door, you find a large room stretching away on the far side. Apart from a clear space of smooth rock immediately inside the door the floor seems to be made of large squares alternately coloured red and yellow. When you move away from the blue door, it swings shut under its own weight. If you have stayed in the passage, turn to 14. Should you be in the large room with the floor of chequered squares,turn to 302.

60 The pit in which you find yourself is some ten yards across and eight feet deep. It is, of course, extremely dark, and the soft uneven footing makes fighting difficult. Added to this, you cannot see what you are fighting. Pale shapes, roughly circular and about a foot across, appear out of the darkness and bite at you, and all you can do is try to strike back before they withdraw. Your Expertise is reduced by 2 Points for this combat in the pit, and you will find that your opponent has an Expertise of 12 and does 3 Points of Damage if it hits you. The Vitality of the shapes that attack is low: each has a Vitality of only 2, but you will have to destroy four of them before the attacks cease. Fortunately they only attack one at a time.

61-62 If the attacks bring about your death, turn to 333. Should you survive and kill all four, turn to 156. If at any time you wish to abandon the combat and try to escape from the pit, turn to 92.

61 Hastily you crouch to the floor, but this does little to protect you. The red flower puffs a cloud of spores over you causing 8 Points of Damage. If this kills you, turn to 333. Should you survive, you look up to see another of the red flowers turning to point in your direction. Turn to 77.

62 Like most other areas within the rock, this new room is in darkness, but as you stand by the apparently empty frame in the wall, your lantern illuminates it, indicating that the room must be more than an illusion. You also notice that there appears to be no thickness to the wall between the two rooms. The new room is about twenty feet square, with an opening at the far side through which you can see stairs leading upwards. The only other feature of note is an odd design of lines inlaid in the stone floor just the other side of the picture frame. You may remember seeing something very similar in an earlier adventure (recorded in Monsters of the Marsh). * The design is called a pentagram, and is often used by sorcerers as part of their spells. * The first adventure in the Legends of Skyfall series.

Your lantern illuminates a design on the floor

63-65 If you were to try to step into the new room, you would have to set foot in the pentagram, and should turn to 75. If you prefer not to, there is nothing else to keep you in the room with the pictures, so you must leave through the purple door, turning to 27.

66-67 obstructions until you reach the south-western corner of the rocky crag on which the castle stands. There is no point in investigating the western cliff, as you have been warned the ground there is dangerously boggy, and would never have been used as a pathway for the castle rulers. Turn to 18.

63 Beyond the door lies a smaller, square room, some twenty feet across, which is quite empty. In the centre of the far wall is a small door, only four feet high and a little over two feet wide. If you shut the green door and cross the square room to open this small door, turn to 40. If not, you stay in the circular room, shutting the green door, and should turn to 32, ignoring the first two paragraphs. 64 You are in a thirty feet long passage. At one end a flight of steps leads down, while at the other the passage ends at a shiny silver door. Half-way along the passage, two more doors stand opposite each other. Coming from the stairs, on the left is a light blue one, and on the right a dark yellow. If you go to the silver door, turn to 30 if you wish to open it. If you go to the blue one, turn to 38. Should you go to the yellow door, turn to 134. While if you go down the stairs turn to 139. 65 Once past the bramble patch, you meet no further

66

Slowly you feel your way along the base of the cliff, your feet carefully feeling for pits or traps before placing your weight. After some minutes you feel brambles catching at your legs, and suffer several scratches even through your stout leggings. For a while you try to forge forward, so as not to be deflected from the base of the cliff, but the thorn covered creepers are too thick, and you have to withdraw. At least, you TRY to withdraw, but find it not so easy. The thorns appear to have you firmly caught. You stand still, and feel a firm pressure pulling you further on. Something more is required to get free. If you draw your sword and lay vigorously about you turn to 162. If you draw your dagger and reach down to sever those barbed tendrils clutching your legs, turn to 178. If you light your lantern to try to determine where the centre of the brambles lies, turn to 146. 67 You step back out of the pentagram. Quickly the Wyvern resumes its former position, then again becomes rigid. Its eyes resume their former blank stare. Turn to 32, but ignore the first sentence.

68-70 68

When you give the vertically hanging lever a push, it continues to pivot back up until level with the 'ceiling' which then starts to swing down towards its former position as a wall. If you move back into the room with the old gardening tools, turn to 49. If you are quick, you can cross to the stairs before the wall swings back into place, and should then turn to 81. 69 Cautiously, you scoop a little of the clear liquid in your hand, and take a sip. It seems to be water; quite cool and refreshing but of no particular effect. If you wish to try the other circular tank, turn to 85. Otherwise, turn to 73. 70 Breaking into a run, you dash for safety at the far side of the flowerbed. Yellowish-green creepers lift to try to entangle your ankles, and large mauve snapdragons bite at you, showing they can sense exactly where you are. You have only twenty feet to go. If you delete 3 Fortune Points from your Character Sheet you will manage to avoid the creepers, and will suffer only 4 Points of Damage from snapdragon bites. If you do this, and survive, turn to 13. If the damage kills you, turn to 333. Should you be unable (or unwilling) to delete the 3 Fortune Points, a creeper will twine about one ankle and bring you crashing to the ground. Several

71-72 snapdragons dart in and you suffer 5 Points of Damage before you regain your feet. Amend your Character Sheet and then turn to 173 to try to fight clear, unless the Damage causes your death, in which case turn to 333.

71 With the small flame in your tinderbox, you seek to ignite one of the nearer oil-soaked brambles. Within seconds it is merrily aflame, others close by catch alight, the fire spreads rapidly and soon the whole patch is blazing brightly. As they burn, the brambles release their grip on you, and you are able to stumble clear of the flames, beating the embers from your smoking garments. You suffer 5 Points of Damage from the fire, but may consider this worthwhile . .. Unless, of course, this kills you, in which case you must turn to 333. Otherwise, turn to 87.

72 The narrow flight of steps curves to your left as you climb, and thick dust and curtains of cobwebs indicate that no-one can have passed this way for many years. After you have climbed about forty feet the steps reach another narrow passage which continues to curve around the tower for only a few feet, then you find the outline of a door has been marked in gold paint on the wall to your left. The passage ends there. There is a small peephole in the centre of the door, and a handle to one side.

73

If you peer through the peephole, turn to 257. If you turn the handle and push the door open, turn to 285.

73 The wall through which you entered and the one opposite are forty feet long and thirty feet apart. At either end of the room the walls form a semi-circular alcove, so that at its largest part the room is seventy feet long. In one alcove is a small circular pool or tank of some clear liquid, surrounded by a low wall. There is a similar feature at the other end of the room, but that contains only a small puddle. The centre of the room is occupied by a much larger, and rectangular tank, again with a low wall, but filled to floor level with a stinking sludge. Above one end a six inch pipe protrudes from the ceiling. There is at least six feet of space around each of the tanks, so neither you nor the creature has any difficulty in moving around the room. Apart from the black door through which you entered, the only other apparent exit is a circular shaft leading upwards through the ceiling nearly fifteen feet above. This is some three feet in diameter, but unfortunately directly above the centre of the sludge-pool. If this is the way up, you will need a ladder to reach it. If you already have a ladder, turn to 137. If you decide to leave via the black door to look for one, turn to 9. Should you decide on a closer examination of the tank contents, on your journeys around the room, turn to 153. If the creature is still stolidly coming after you, and

No-one can have passed this way for years

74-76 you decide to keep leading it around the room, hoping it will eventually get tired, turn to 89. You may decide to fight it, of course, and in this case should turn to 105. 74 You decide to leave this white-painted door and make your way back along the narrow secret passage. Soon you arrive at the head of the stairs leading downwards. If you go down the stairs, turn to 343. If you take the narrow, curving passage which turns to the left from the head of the stairs, turn to 31.

77-80 77 One of the red flowers is turning to point towards you. If you duck to the floor, turn to 61. If you make a run for it to the far door, turn to 189. Should you hastily retreat back to the centre of the passage, turn to 157. 78 The creature is still busy by the tank, and you have been able to raise the ladder and prop one end a few inches inside the shaft above. Swiftly you climb, then, seeing the creature still ignores you, attach one end of your rope to the top rung of the ladder and climb into the shaft. Turn to 110.

75 You encounter no obstacle in stepping through the frame into the new room, and nothing happens when you set foot in the pentagram carved into the floor. If you pause to examine the extraordinarily thin division between the rooms, you notice a slight flickering along the edge. You can step back into the room with the pictures if you wish, and should turn to 300 in this case. If you prefer to step out of the pentagram and cross this room to the stairs, turn to 123. 76 Once past the patch of bones, you come across nothing further of note until you reach the south-eastern corner of the rock pinnacle on which the castle stands. You can go no further in this direction, as the fast-flowing river borders the eastern cliff. Turn to 34.

79 Pressing the recessed block of stone opens a secret door into the bedroom beyond, the area of the door being outlined by the white paint. As the cobwebs in the passage had indicated, it is a long time since this door was opened, and the unoiled hinges screech protestingly. Unless you are very lucky, the noise will awaken the person sleeping in the bed. If you delete 2 Fortune Points from your Character Sheet, their sleep will be so deep that the noise will not be noticed, and you should turn to 120. If you do not wish to lose the Fortune Points (or have insufficient left) turn to 152. 80 Bracing yourself, you make a sudden dash onto the earth close by the side wall, and make for the far side of the flowerbed. It seems that you have caught the plant napping at first, then creepers and mauve flowers move to intercept you.

81-82

If you delete 2 Fortune Points from your Character Sheet you will manage to get across and will suffer only 3 Points of Damage from snapdragon bites. Should this kill you, turn to 333. If you get across, turn to 13 after amending your Character Sheet. Should you be unable (or unwilling) to delete the 2 Fortune Points, a creeper will twine about one ankle and bring you crashing to the ground, half-way across. Several flowers dart down to bite at your prostrate form, and you take 5 Points of Damage before you can struggle back to your feet. If this kills you, turn to 333, otherwise turn to 173 to try to fight your way clear. 81 Quickly, you cross the bare room to the foot of the stairs. At shoulder height above the first step is a carved stone sconce obviously intended to hold a torch. If you try to move this, turn to 84. Should you prefer to continue up the stairs, turn to 97. 82 Darkness comes early to this area below the towering Fosse Mountains. Although the setting sun is still illuminating the towering peaks far above, you are well-hidden in the gloom as you slip from the woods, cross the road and approach the fence. This proves to be in good repair, about five feet high and easily climbable. Within moments you are making your way across the mile of overgrown gardens. Twice you have to detour from your path, once to

The overgrown garden at night

83-84 avoid a small herd of cattle and once to skirt a grove of withered apricot trees, and the stars are shining by the time you are able to make out the pinnacle of rock on which stands the Castle of Flowers, some hundred yards ahead. Several lights are visible over two hundred feet above, but you have been warned against trying to climb. Not only are the cliffs smooth and sheer, but a variety of traps and snares have been fixed in place near the top. You intend to search the base of the pinnacle for an entrance. If you start on the light and work along to the left, turn to 34. If you start on the left, and move the other way, then turn to 18. 83 As you open the door, there is a sharp snap. The golden chain breaks close to the hook, and the Wyvern immediately attacks you, gaining the benefit of SURPRISE (as outlined in the Game System) for the first round. Turn to 8 if you opened the red door; 10 if you chose the green one; or 15 for the blue. 84 The wall-sconce does indeed move when you twist it. If the moving wall is still pivoted up to the ceiling, it will now swing back down, and you will be able to see the hoe swinging back to its original position so that it will hang vertically from the wall back in the tool-room. If you had already used the hoe/lever to restore the moving wall to its original position, the sconce will now open it again. Should you wish, you can operate

85-86 the sconce several more times to ensure it always works properly to open your escape route. Leaving the secret door closed, yon climb the stairs and should turn to 97. 85

There is a small puddle in the bottom of this tank, and you realize you cannot reach it without climbing in. Even then, you will only be able to drink some by getting down on your hands and knees and sucking at it. This would make you extremely vulnerable to the creature, and is really not to be tried if it is following you around the room. Therefore, if the creature is still alive and not distracted in some way, or you decide against trying this liquid, turn to 57. If the creature is dead, or motionless in another part of the room, and you wish to drink from the puddle, turn to 101. 86 You have decided you must cross the room to the other door, and there are really only three routes you can take: along the passage straight between the two earth beds, or across the earth in one or other of the beds themselves. These beds extend right to the wall on the left and right, but there is thirty feet between them and the walls on the other two sides, so the beds are roughly forty feet square. If you decide to take the passage between, turn to 118. If you cross the bed of the dark green plant with red flowers turn to 150.

87-89

90-91

Should you prefer the other one with the mauve snapdragons turn to 48. You may change your mind about crossing the room at all. In this case, if you are by the blue door and step back through it, turn to 38, while for the brown door turn to 29. 87

The crackling from the blazing patch of brambles blots out other more distant sounds, and for the moment you are unaware that the alarm has been raised in the castle above. By the firelight, you are able to make out a door set in the base of the cliff several yards to the west, and start to make your way towards it. The fire dies down as swiftly as it started, and as the sounds quieten you make out a faint whistling noise from above. Turn to 130. 88 As you open the door there is a snapping noise, and part of the chain falls loosely to the floor behind the door. The other end falls inside the pentragram at the feet of the Wyvern, which instantly comes to life and attacks. It is too quick for you to shut the door, and whether you retreat into the square room or dash out into the larger circular room it will come after you. If you are engaged with the red Wyvern, turn to 8. For the green one, turn to 10. And should it be the blue, turn to 15. 89 For the best part of an hour, so far as you can judge, you keep moving around the room, trying to keep as much

distance as possible between yourself and the strange creature. Then there is a gurgling noise, and some more of the stinking sludge falls from the pipe above into the central tank. As if this were a signal, the creature appears to lose all interest in you. It passes its arm to and fro over the top of the sludge, as if searching for something, then plunges it deep into the mess and becomes motionless. If you have a ladder and decide to use it now, turn to 46. If your curiosity makes you stay to observe what, if anything, happens next, turn to 53. Should you decide to leave the room, turn to 9. 90 You decide to scramble out from beneath the bed and try to silence these potential witnesses to your presence. Five guards are grouped around the bed with their swords drawn, and your initially awkward position will give them the benefit of SURPRISE for the first round of combat. With this in mind, turn to 191, but ignore the first paragraph. 91 You are in a square room, twenty feet across. A flight of stairs leads up from an opening in the centre of one wall. At the opposite side of the room there is a six feet square opening in the wall, one foot above the floor, and immediately in front of this opening a design of blue lines glows on the floor. The opening itself appears to be obscured by a thin grey curtain, and it would not be possible to move this without stepping amongst the glowing lines.

92-93 If you climb the stairs, turn to 139. If you step into the design on the floor, turn to 171. 92

Normally speaking it would be a relatively easy matter for an agile adventurer like you to leap up, get one arm over the lip of the pit and swing yourself out. Doing it in almost pitch darkness, under attack from something biting lumps out of your anatomy is another matter however. Calculate E + 4H - T: you will need a score of 14 to succeed, and may NOT use Fortune Points to modify your score. If you succeed, turn to 119. If you fail, you are bitten again for another 3 Points of Damage. Amend your Character Sheet appropriately then . . . If this kills you, turn to 333. If you try again to scramble clear, go back to the beginning of this paragraph 92. Or, if you decide to draw a weapon and try to destroy whatever is attacking you, turn to 60. 93

You have managed to get half-way across the room, but now at least one of the plants seems to be becoming aware of your presence. The paler creepers are ceasing their endeavours against the others, and writhing towards you instead. The darker ones withdraw slightly towards their own side of the room, as if ready to defend their territory. If you move over towards the darker coloured plants, turn to 77.

You attempt to escape

94-96

97-98

Otherwise, whether you keep on down the centre or move to the side away from the darker plant, you will have to cut your way through a growing barrier of the paler creepers. In this latter case, turn to 141.

If you descend the stairs, turn to 206. If you go to the black door, turn to 9. Should you prefer to go back through the blue door, turn to 59.

94

97

With the creature heading in your direction as fast as it can, you need to make good speed up the ladder and into the shaft.

This stair-way is six feet wide, each step is a foot deep and four inches high, and you calculate you must have climbed forty feet by the time you reach the top. The stairs come up into a six feet wide, ten feet high passage, which extends twenty feet to each side. Both directions end at painted wooden doors; the one on the right is white and the other yellow.

Calculate E + 4H - T; you need a score of 14 to succeed, but may use Fortune to modify your score if necessary. If you succeed, turn to 126. Should you fail, turn to 158. 95 You crawl out from beneath the bed, trying to placate the guards with a tale of having taken a wrong turning in the dark. Five brawny men in ringmail jackets encircle you, swords in their hands, and it is apparent they don't believe a word. At a signal from one of them, they attempt to cut you down, and you suffer 5 Points of Damage before you can draw your own weapon and fight back. Amend your Character Sheet, then turn to 191, ignoring the first paragraph. 96 You step through the blue painted door and find yourself in a passage, six feet wide and ten feet high. The door swings shut behind you. At the far end of the passage a flight of steps curves down to the right, and half-way along there is a black door in the left hand wall.

If you go to the white one, turn to 100. If you go to the yellow, turn to 113. 98 For some moments you move carefully along the southern cliff below the castle, feeling your way along the rock with one hand and placing your feet cautiously to try to avoid traps or obstructions. Something you tread upon breaks. Stopping short, you bend down to examine a number of pale shapes at your feet, and peering closely in the faint light from the stars you find you have come to an area where the ground is covered in bones. Amongst them are a couple of skulls, with horns, and you feel they must be those of cattle. If you continue feeling your way along the cliff, turn to 167. If you feel around to investigate how far the bones extend from the cliff, turn to 135. Should you prefer to light your lantern to check the area, turn to 151.

99-102 99 The moment you cut the golden chain, the Wyvern attacks you. For the first round of Combat it has the benefit of SURPRISE as outlined in the Game System. Turn to 8 if you are fighting the red Wyvern; 10 for the green; and 15 if you are engaged with the blue one. 100 You stand by a white-painted wooden door at one end of a passage, six feet wide and ten feet high. Just under fifty feet away you can see the passage ends at a yellow door, and half-way along a flight of stairs leads down to the left. There is no handle on the white door: if you push it open and step through, turn to 116. If you move along the passage to the yellow door, turn to 113. Should you go down the stairs, you will find they descend forty feet, and should turn to 193. 101 Pursing your lips, you suck up some of the puddle and swallow the liquid. There is a curious tingling sensation which spreads throughout your body as if your very blood were sparkling, and any diseases from which you may presently be suffering are immediately cured. Unfortunately, you have drained the puddle, and so will not be able to take any of this priceless liquid with you. Turn to 73. 102 The items on the tables seem to be relatively simple devices, each involving a large pair of bellows with a

A device like a pair of bellows

103-105 long nozzle. One is attached to a metal drum, and the other to a large glass jar, which is much stained on the inside and seems to have the crusted residue of some substance at the bottom. It looks as if whatever liquid it held has dried up over the years. If you wish to experiment with the other one, turn to 205. Should you prefer to leave it alone, turn to 19 if you climb the stairs, or 349 if you open the door. 103 Carefully preserving the small flame, you pull out your kerchief, roll it into a ball, ignite it from the flame and hurl it into the oil-soaked brambles. They catch light almost immediately and it seems the sap within the branches must be highly inflammable, as within seconds the whole area of the plants is burning merrily. As they burn, the brambles release their hold upon you, and you stumble from the blaze, coughing and beating the flames from your clothing. The blaze has caused you 5 Points of Damage, and you should amend your Character Sheet. If this kills you, turn to 333. Otherwise, turn to 87. 104 The circular room is as you left it. Stepping unharmed through the pentagram outside, you close the door and move out into the room. Turn to 32, but ignore the first sentence. 105 The creature you are fighting has Expertise 11, Vitality 30 and does 4 Points of Damage if it hits you. It is, however, so slow that you can break off combat at any

106-108 time by retreating around the room. If you do retreat, amend your Character Sheet for Damage suffered and turn to 57. If the Damage kills you, turn to 333. Should you have so far escaped being hit, you should turn to 185 at any time that the creature does manage to strike you. If you kill it, turn to 169. 106 The girl's eyes pop open, to find a dusty, cobwebbed figure standing beside her bed. Not surprisingly, she screams enthusiastically. You hear distant shouts, and the sound of running feet approaching. Turn to 152. 107

Staring through the glass at the swirling fog beyond, you see the figure grow steadily more substantial as the fog disperses. Eventually you realise you are staring at yourself. Yet this is no ordinary mirror. Although the figure resembles you in every respect, it fails to reflect any movements you try, but stands motionless. You, in turn, find you are quite unable to move from the spot. Your feet are anchored firmly to the ground although you can move the rest of your body. Then, suddenly, you are in a different place, with no sensation of movement or of time having passed. Turn to 290. 108

Carefully, you feel your way along the cliff with the fingers of your left hand, heading east through the darkness. Some twenty yards further on, you find a

109-110 second door of similar dimensions to the one you just left, and again with a rusty iron handle. Turn to 199. 109 Your keen sword cuts through the thick creepers quite easily, and you make steady progress at first. However, the plants seem quickly to sense what is going on, and it is as if they join forces to attack you. Several fresh creepers writhe across the floor to entangle your legs, some of the snapdragons attack your lower body causing 5 Points of Damage, and two of the red flowers puff their clouds of spores all over your head and shoulders. This causes 10 more Points of Damage. Although you are able to sever one or two flower heads, you are still held fast, and death comes quickly. Turn to 333. 110 Quickly you climb the ladder and, bracing yourself in the bottom of the shaft, you are able to see that there are pairs of metal brackets every few feet which look designed to hold a ladder. No ladder is now in evidence, however, so you have to shinny your way up using knees, hands and back. This is made a little easier by the metal brackets, which you can use as hand or footholds as you reach them. Calculate E + 4H: you will need a score of 15 to climb the shaft, and may use Fortune Points on a one-for-one basis to modify your score if necessary. If you make it to the top, turn to 5. Should you fail to achieve a score of 15, you will fall, and must turn to 121.

111-112 111 The girl convulsively gulps the liquid you pour into her mouth, her eyes pop open, and she gazes at you. A look of adoration crosses her face, and you realise you have forgotten to show her the miniature of the young Duke. Not only that - it seems that you have been misinformed - the vial must have contained another [and perhaps stronger) dose of the Love Potion which had originally enslaved the Princess. Now her affections have been turned from Belfont to you! You can only hope that, if you can get her out safely, the court magician can do something to transfer them yet again. If not, you are going to be in big trouble with the royal family. Delete the Potion from your Character Sheet, then . . . If you set out on the trip back, turn to 237. Should you decide to ask her a few questions first, turn to 359. 112 Sure enough, when you push on the recessed stone there is a click, then with a grating noise the black-painted section of wall swings outwards. You find yourself gazing into a workroom, dark except for the light of your lantern. There is a door in the opposite wall, and a deeply recessed window a few feet away in the same wall as your secret door. Hanging on the walls, and spread here and there in some confusion on tables and floor are metal shields, wooden decorations, inn-signs, banners and badges, mostly half-finished and displaying a motley collection of crests, arms and devices. On a work table you can see a sizeable array of pots and paint-brushes, with a large leather-bound book. You realise this must have been where the unfortunate limner/spy worked.

113-115 If you enter the loom, turn to 213. Should you prefer to shut the secret door and return along the narrow passage, turn to 301. 113 You stand by a yellow-painted wooden door at one end of a passage which is six feet wide and ten feet high. Almost fifty feet away, the passage ends at a white-painted door, and half-way along a flight of stairs leads down to the right. There is a metal latch on the yellow door: if you push it down to open the door, turn to 129. If you move along the passage to the white door, turn to 100. Should you turn down the stairs, you will find they descend forty feet. Turn to 193. 114 The comforting glow from your lantern enables you to move quickly along the base of the rock pinnacle. Soon you have to move out to skirt a clump of wicked-looking brambles, where what looks like an abandoned rose-garden has grown wild against the rock wall. You hear a faint cry from above, and wonder if your light has been spotted by a watchful guard. Fortunately it will take at least an hour before anyone can make the long trip down here to investigate. Then, at the far limit of your light, you spot a door, set in the very base of the cliff. Hurrying forward you have just time to notice it has been painted a pale green, when you hear a faint whistling noise from above. Turn to 130. 115 When you turn to unhook the thin golden chain, you find it is not, after all, looped over the hook on the

The limner's workshop

116-117 door. The hook is actually hollow, and the chain runs into it. Carefully, you pull almost four feet of chain out of the hook before you reach the end. While this is going on, the Wyvern regards you with apparent interest, but no hostility. If you drop the chain and open the door turn to 179. If you keep hold of the chain and step out of the pentagram, perhaps with the intention of taking the Wyvern for a walk, turn to 195. Should you keep hold of the chain and open the door, staying inside the pentagram, turn to 211. 116 You are standing by a white-painted wooden door at one end of a large room. Your lantern reveals it is thirty feet wide, with the door in the centre of the wall, but it is too long for your lantern to reveal more than fifty feet of its length. The room is obviously a burial chamber. The walls are honey-combed with recesses holding funeral urns, and there are rows of stone caskets and sarcophagi on the floor. A clear lane has been left down the centre of the room. If you decide to leave this room through the white door, turn to 100. Should you prefer to move down the centre of the room, turn to 145. 117 Beyond the red door is a small, circular room, ten feet across. The entire surface of the floor is one gigantic design of glowing orange lines, which you recognise as forming the magical sign of a pentagram. Directly opposite is a yellow door, and to reach it you would have to cross the pentagram.

The room is obviously a burial chamber

121-122

118-120 If you wish to do this, turn to 212.

If you wake her, turn to 106.

Should you prefer to close the red door, and stay where you are, turn to 5.

Should you decide this could be an ideal opportunity, and empty the vial of antidote into her open mouth, turn to 111.

118 You move forward along the disputed twenty feet passage between the battling plants. Creepers from both writhe everywhere about you and it is difficult to avoid treading on or being tripped by them. If you decide to cut your way through with your sword, turn to 109. Should you prefer merely to try to avoid them, you will have to delete 2 Fortune Points from your Character Sheet, merely to reach the half way point. If you take this course, turn to 93. Otherwise you will be tripped and sent crashing to the rock floor, and should turn to 125. 119 Hastily you leap to your feet on the edge of the pit. If you try to see what attacked you down there, turn to 124. Should you prefer to make your best possible speed across the patch of bones, away from the pit, turn to 140. 120 Despite the noisy screeching of the rusty hinges, the occupant of the bed stays fast asleep. Leaving the secret door open you creep towards the bed, where you find a young woman lying fast asleep on her back, with her mouth slightly open.

If there is anything else you wish to do first, turn to 127. 121 As you scramble your way up the shaft your arms give way at a critical moment, and before you can brace your legs you are falling. Should the ladder still be in place it will break under the impact, and the pieces will fall with you to the floor below. The basic damage from the fall is 20 Points. However you may reduce this by your cat-like skill in landing: calculate E + 4H - T and deduct that total from 20. The remaining figure is the amount of Vitality Points you lose. If that kills you, turn to 333. Otherwise, turn to 73, but remember your ladder is now broken (and, I am afraid, irreparable). 122 You open the grey door. On one side is a circular room with a shaft leading down through the centre of the floor. On the other side is a ten feet long passage, which leads to a flight of steps going down. If you step into the short passage, turn to 154, while if you choose the circular room turn to 5. In either case, the grey door will swing closed behind you.

126-127

123-125 123 As soon as you step out of the pentagram towards the stairs, two apparently magical effects are triggered. Firstly, the grooved lines of the pentagram glow with an eerie blue light, and secondly, the opening into the room with the pictures become obscured as if by a thin grey curtain.

If you sacrifice 1 Fortune Point you will be able to wriggle free and get back to the door. If you do, turn to 86. Otherwise you can struggle to your feet and will have to try to cut yourself free with your sword. In this case, turn to 109.

Turn to 91. 126 124 Standing on the edge of the pit, you peer down to try to make out what was attacking you. Another of the pale shapes lashes out of the depths and fastens itself to your leg. You take 3 Points of Damage. If this kills you, turn to 333. In order to avoid being pulled back into the pit, you will have to 'kill' the shape which has sunk its teeth into your leg. Here on the edge of the pit your Expertise is back to its normal level, and your opponent has 12 Expertise and 2 Vitality Points. If you hit it and do 2 Points of Damage you will be released; if you fail you will be dragged into the Pit. Turn to 140 if you succeed and get free. If you are dragged into the pit, turn to 60. 125 As you sprawl on the floor, several more of the paler creepers try to fasten about your legs, and one of the mauve snapdragons bites at your arm, causing 1 Point of Damage.

You manage to reach the shaft and wedge your body into it, bracing hands and knees on one side and back against the other. The creature reaches the ladder and smashes it aside. You cannot see much, peering between your knees, but from the sounds below it seems the ladder is being thoroughly demolished. Turn to 110.

127 Looking down at yourself, you realise that the ascent through the rooms and passages inside the crag has taken its toll of your normally presentable appearance. At the very least you are covered in dust and cobwebs, while if some of your encounters did not go too well there may also be patches of blood, earth and other even less savoury substances. Any young lady woken by you in the middle of the night is liable to be frightened out of her wits. Crossing to the mirror, you smarten yourself up a bit and notice the miniature of the young Duke Rupert hanging around your neck. Returning to the bedside . ..

128-129 If you empty the vial into her conveniently open mouth, while holding the miniature before her eyes, turn to 253. Should you decide to waken her first, you take the precaution of placing one hand over her mouth, then turn to 269. 128 For the next half-hour or so you try everything you can think of to escape from the dungeons. The Hobgoblins have only one key, which opens all the cell door-flaps but not the guardroom door. None of the cells have any secret doors and the far end of the passage ends at a blank wall. All the other cells are empty, and knocking at all the walls, whether in cells, passage or guardroom, reveals no hollow-sounding places. There are no windows, all the floors are solid and you can see no trapdoors in the ceilings. Grimly you retrieve all the weapons, load the crossbow and settle down to await the return of the one-eyed man, placing your chair behind the door with the hope of gaining surprise. Turn to 192.

129 The metal latch is rather stiff, but you are able to press it down and open the yellow door. On one side is a square room some twenty feet across, and on the other a passage leading fifty feet to a white-painted door. If you move into the passage, turn to 113. If you move into the room, turn to 232. In either case, the yellow door will swing shut behind

130-132 you, with a screech of rusty hinges, and the latch will drop back in place. 130 Looking up you are just in time to see a large rock blotting out the stars above before it lands and crushes the life from you. Turn to 333. 131

The red Wyvern lies dead. For your success you may add 5 Fortune Points to your Character Sheet and also increase your Expertise score by 1 Point for the remainder of this adventure. If you wish, you may take a Potion of Healing. After you have amended your Character Sheet. . . If you wish to open the red door, turn to 47. Should you wish to go to one of the other doors, you will have to step into the appropriate pentagram, which may well still be occupied, and should turn to 51. 132 By the time you are half-way across the flower bed you are certain the plants know you are there. You have been treading as softly and carefully as possible, but the mauve blooms have turned to follow your progress, and creepers have come writhing across to block your path. Looking back, you see they have blocked your retreat as well, so you may as well go on as go back. The question is whether to make a run for it, accepting some damage without striking back, and risking the chance that a creeper may trip you, or whether to fight

133-135 your way at a slower pace, trying to sever anything that attacks. If you take the first option, turn to 70. Should you take the second, turn to 173. 133 As soon as you sit in the chair, the arms close across your lower chest, firmly but not painfully, and the chair begins to rotate. If you brace your feet on the floor and try to break free, turn to 149. Should you sit tight, lifting your feet from the floor, turn to 197. 134 You are standing by a yellow door, half-way along a thirty feet long passage. The door has no handle, and appears to open away from you. If you push it open, turn to 246. Otherwise, turn to 64. 135 The faint starlight only lets you see a yard or two down here at the foot of the castle rock, so you bend to feel how far the area of white bones extends across the ground. They seem to reach quite a distance, spreading out in a semi-circle from the cliff. If you feel your way across, turn to 167. If you feel your way around the edge, moving away from the cliff, turn to 183.

The plants are alerted

136-138

139-141 136

139

As soon as you try to lead the Wyvern down the stairs it rears back, the thin chain snaps, and the Wyvern promptly attacks you. If has the benefit of SURPRISE, as outlined in the Game System, for the first round of Combat. If you are engaged with the red Wyvern, turn to 8. Should you be fighting the green one, then turn to 10. And for the blue, turn to 15. 137 Even if you have found a ladder your troubles may not be over, if the creature is still pursuing you. Were you alone, you should be able to attach a rope to the ladder, climb to the shaft, then hopefully make your way up it and pull the ladder after you. As it is, even if you could climb the ladder before the creature reached you, it would seem likely that the creature would destroy it before you could pull the ladder clear. And this could mean you might be unable to get down again. If you decide the matter needs further thought, turn to 73. Should you decide to climb the ladder now, turn to 46. 138 You throw open the cupboard door and leap out into the room, drawing your sword. A semi-circle of five armed guards, just approaching, recoils a little nervously. Then, seeing nothing more frightening than an adventurer with a sword, when they had been fearing to find an Undead Monster, they close confidently to attack.

You have reached a staircase cut into the solid rock. At the bottom, it opens into a room where a glowing pentragram is engraved in the floor immediately in front of a veiled opening in the far wall. At the top, the staircase leads to a ten feet wide passage. If you climb the stairs, turn to 16. If you descend, then turn to 91.

Turn to 191.

140 Quickly you move through the scattered bones to the edge of this area, then follow it around until you encounter the cliff once more, on the western side. Behind you there is a sharp and somehow angry-sounding clicking from the direction of the pit. Turn to 7. 141

Keeping away from the darker plant with the red flowers, you try to fight your way through the biting snapdragons to the far door. Your progress resolves itself into a series of combats with the snapdragons and the yellow-green creepers, as the other plant seems content to let you alone if you do not approach. The Vitality of the snapdragon plant is too great for you to hope to kill it, so you are really only trying to reduce the damage it does to you by as much as possible. Its Expertise is effectively 12, and you will have to play through four rounds of combat to reach the door. It starts with 5 flowers able to reach you, and each time you score a hit you will be able to sever one. In each round however, all the surviving snapdragons will be able to bite you for 1 Point of Damage. So at the very least, if you manage to hit it each time, you will take 10 Points of Damage. If you survive to reach the door,

142-143 you may pause to take a Potion, as the flowers can no longer reach you. Then turn to 29 if you go through the brown door, or 38 for the blue one. If you fail to reach it, turn to 333. 142 Cautiously, you call across the passage to try to attract the attention of whoever occupies the other cell. For some time the snores continue, then a voice answers testily, asking what you want. You ask where you are, and there is a moment's silence. Then a figure appears at the bars opposite. It is a middle-aged man with tousled hair, wearing a long white robe. He looks at you in astonishment. 'These are the dungeons of my master's Castle. How did you get in there, with weapons .. ?' His voice trails off and he stares at you open-mouthed. Further questioning elicits little sense, and you being to think he must he half-witted. He mutters something about the guards, the Margrave's displeasure and torture, then totters back out of sight. After a while his snores resume, and you wonder how he can sleep in a place like this. If you wish to use your dagger to try to pick the door lock, turn to 268. Should you prefer to kick up a racket to try to attract the guards, turn to 316. You can settle down to see if the guards come to feed their prisoners, and in that case should turn to 386. 143 You cross the chequered, metallic squares without difficulty. There are eight rows of them, or sixty four

He looks at you in astonishment

144-145 squares altogether. On the far side, the room matches the side you left, except that the door in the centre of the wall is blue. You open it and step through.

146-148 open. You come to a halt as a figure rises from within the opened tomb. Turn to 12.

Turn to 96.

146 144

With the death of the fourth Hobgoblin, there is a period of peace and quiet at last. You may take a Potion if you wish, even finish your breakfast (though this latter would NOT recover any Vitality Points for you) and may add 1 Fortune Point to your Character Sheet for having escaped the cell. When ready to leave, you make your way to the lighted end of the passage, where you find a large guardroom, lit by torches placed in several wall-sconces, with a rudimentary kitchen at one side. Unfortunately, the door at the far side of the guardroom is locked.

The viciously-thorned brambles now have a tight grip, and while you are lighting the lantern the increasing pressure pulls you several feet deeper into the tangle. Once you have the light, however, you can see a number of large flowers in the centre of the brambles, with a dark mound beneath them. You sense that this may contain whatever brain is possessed by the plant creature, and allow yourself to be pulled closer until it is within range of your sword. While this is going on you have been aware of faint cries from the castle above, and now you hear a thin whistling noise. Turn to 130.

Turn to 128.

147 145

The dust of centuries stirs around your feet as you pace down the centre of this gloomy room, lined with the mortal remains of generations of the castle's occupants. No sooner have you taken the first few steps, than you hear a grinding noise somewhere not too far ahead, as of stone grating on stone. Readying a weapon, you, press forward and several paces further on your lantern reveals the far end of the room, which must be some seventy feet long. The way out leads through an arched opening, beyond which you can see the bottom of a staircase which curves up to the left out of sight within the rock. This archway is partially blocked by a large tomb of some polished black stone, and the grinding noise is being made by the lid sliding

Having succeeded in killing the green Wyvern, you may add 3 Fortune Points to your Character Sheet, and also increase your Expertise Score by 1 Point for the remainder of the adventure. You may also take one of your Healing Potions at this point if you wish. When you have duly amended your Character Sheet. . . Turn to 63 if you wish to open the green door. Should you wish to go to one of the other doors, you will have to step into the appropriate pentagram, which may well be occupied, and should turn to 51. 148 Trying to reason with this spectral guardian from the

149-150 tomb, you explain your reasons for the unfortunate intrusion at some length. There is no reply and the guardian remains motionless, obviously waiting for you to come within range of its sword. It seems you will have to fight it if you wish to proceed through the arch. If you advance with this purpose, turn to 161. Should you prefer to leave through the white door by which you entered, turn to 100. Something about the 'undead' and their coffins may come to mind: if you decide to rush forward and dive into the open tomb, turn to 196. 149 Bracing your feet against the floor, you try to stop the chair revolving and to escape from its pinioning arms. The chair is strongly made, however, and a whining noise comes from beneath the seat as it strives to continue turning. There is a smell of burning and the whining noise becomes higher in pitch. If you stop struggling and allow the chair to turn, turn to 197. If you use all your strength to stop the chair and break free, turn to 306. 150 Keeping against the rock wall of the room, you make your way to the corner furthest away from the lighter coloured plant with the mauve snapdragon flowers. The darker plant appears to ignore you, and you are pleased to see there is a relatively clear space against the rock wall behind it. The earth there looks dry and barren and stepping up onto the low retaining wall you start to cross, treading as lightly as possible.

151-152 If you delete 2 Fortune Points from your Character Sheet the plant will take no notice, and you reach the far side safely, where you can move along to the door. In this case turn to 29 if you go through the brown door, or 64 if you take the blue one. Should you not delete the Fortune Points, then turn to 45. 151 Taking your tinderbox from your pack, you use flint and steel to start a small flame, light your lantern and examine your surroundings. The patch of animal bones extends some thirty feet away from the cliff in a semi-circle. In the centre the ground appears to fall away in a pit, and, as you watch, some large, pale blooms sway into view over the edge. They have nasty-looking serrated edges, and you edge away as these dart towards you, opening and shutting with an audible clicking noise. Fortunately they seem unable to reach beyond the area covered by the bones. You move around, keeping clear, intending to get back to the base of the cliff on the far side. For the last minute or two you have been aware of distant shouts from the castle above, and now you hear a faint whistling noise. Turn to 130. 152

'Eeeeeeegh!' screams the young woman in the bed, sitting up and holding a sheet protectively in front of her. Looking quickly around you see, besides the bed, some chairs, a cupboard, a set of drawers, a table with a magnificent velvet gown laid upon it and a mirror. The only alternative ways out are provided by a deeply recessed window some way to your right and perhaps six feet high and two feet wide, and a

153-154 door opposite the secret one through which you entered. The sound of running footsteps comes from beyond the door, presumably answering the scream. If you jump back through the secret door, closing it after you, turn to 159. If you jump through the window, turn to 170. Should you slide under the bed, babbling hasty explanations and pleas to its occupant, turn to 175. Should you jump into the cupboard with similar hasty words, turn to 182. 153 No really close examination of the central tank is necessary to discern that this contains the various wastes from the castle above, including the kitchens and quite possibly the stables too. Just visible are a number of grilles in the sides, which presumably act as some sort of drainage to save the level rising to overflow the surrounding floor. One circular tank is similarly full to floor level with a pool of clear liquid, which looks to be two or three feet deep, while the other contains a mere puddle in the centre. If you wish to taste the liquid from the filled circular pool, turn to 69. Should you wish to try the puddle in the other tank, turn to 85. Otherwise, turn to 73. 154

She wakes screaming

You are in a ten feet long passage. At one end is a grey door and at the other a flight of steps going down. If you open the door, turn to 122. If you take the stairs, turn to 224.

155-157 155

Legs straining to stop the circular motion of the chair, you manage to force the arms open a little and are just sliding clear when there is a loud explosion and the chair flies to pieces. You find yourself lying on the floor in considerable pain, having taken 8 points of Damage to a tender part of your anatomy. You may take a Potion of Healing if you wish, and in either case should amend your Character Sheet appropriately. The chair has been completely destroyed, so please bear this in mind when reading future sections concerning this room. Now turn to 242. 156

Eventually all four of the mysterious shapes that were biting at you are destroyed. You may take a Potion of Healing, if you wish, and add 2 Fortune Points to your Character Sheet. If you now wish to scramble out of the pit, turn to 188. Should you prefer to light your lantern to examine your surroundings and perhaps discover what was attacking you, turn to 17. 157 Despite your hasty retreat, the red flower still puffs a cloud of spores at you, and you take 8 Points of Damage. Before you can do anything else, the creepers of the other plant are wrapping themselves around your legs, and two of the mauve snapdragon flowers bite you for 2 more Points of Damage. Amend your Character Sheet and, if the total 10 points suffered has brought about your death, turn to 333.

158-160 If you survive, you have no time to take a Potion as the snapdragons continue their attack, and you must turn to 141. 158 Unfortunately you do not quite manage to reach the shaft above in time. The creature reaches the ladder while you are still a few inches short and smashes it aside. Unless you are very skilful (or lucky) you are liable to fall into the fetid contents of the central tank. Calculate E + 4H — T: you will need a score of 15 to avoid that fate, but may Use Fortune to modify your score. If you land in the tank, turn to 174. If you fall clear, turn to 190. 159 You make to return through the secret door, but it seems to have stuck open, and you have to heave it shut with all your strength. Calculate E — 3T: you will need to score at least 12 to heave the door shut and may NOT modify your score by Using Fortune. Any score below 12 and the door will not close in time. If you get the door shut, turn to 311. If you fail, turn to 186. 160 As the third Hobgoblin collapses on the floor of the passage, a crossbow bolt hits you in the back for 2 Points of Damage. If this kills you, turn to 333. Should you survive, you have no choice but to charge

161-162 the archer, who stands between you and the way out. There is no cover unless you retreat into the cell you just fought so hard to escape from. The fourth and last Hobgoblin is frantically trying to reload before you can reach it. If you sacrifice 2 Fortune Points you will get there in time, otherwise it will manage to hit you again for 2 more Points of Damage. Then you are there and force hand-to-hand combat. For the first round you have effectively the benefit of SURPRISE (as per the Game System) while your opponent drops the crossbow. It has no other weapon and has to engage you with its teeth, which can do 1 Point of Damage. Its Expertise is 9 and its Vitality 7. If the combat or a last crossbow bolt cause your death, turn to 333. Should you kill this fourth Hobgoblin, turn to 144. 161 The archway is twelve feet wide and rises to a point over fifteen feet above. The black tomb lies in the centre, with not much more than two feet clear to pass on either side: however, the sliding lid has blocked the left-hand side. The spectral guardian stands ready to deny you passage, and it is clear you will have to fight it to get past. Before actually engaging in combat, you consider whether to strike at the armour, or at the gaps between. If you concentrate on the gaps, turn to 177. Should you aim for the armour, then turn to 180.

Desperately trying to hack yourself free

162 You try to brace yourself against the increasingly insistent pull of the many-barbed brambles coiling

163 about your legs and lower body, and desperately try to hack yourself free. In the almost complete darkness, however, you cannot tell whether the strands you cut are actually those attached, and even cutting them is no easy matter as they tend to yield with your blows. The cruel barbs start to cause painful wounds and despite all your efforts you feel yourself tugged deeper into the tangle. Please deduct 2 Vitality Points from your Character Sheet then If the 2 Points of Damage kill you, turn to 333. If you sheathe your sword, draw your dagger and reach down to sever those barbed tendrils actually holding you, turn to 178. If you light your lantern to see what you are doing, turn to 146. If you wish to consider using a flask of oil to try to destroy this dangerous plant, turn to 194. Should you prefer to continue using your sword, turn to 23. 163 You have managed to kill the formidable blue Wyvern, and may add 4 Fortune Points to your Character Sheet. Your Expertise Score is increased by 1 Point for the remainder of the adventure, and if you wish you may pause to drink one of your Healing Potions. After the necessary amendments to your Character Sheet... Turn to 223 if you wish to open the blue door. If you do not, but wish to go elsewhere, then turn to 51.

164-166 164 By fleeing from the combat, you give your opponent the opportunity to strike another blow, and suffer 2 Points of Damage which you may NOT reduce by Using Fortune. If this causes your death, turn to 333. Otherwise you get clear, and pause in the centre of the room to consider your options. You may take a Potion if you wish, altering your Character Sheet appropriately. Turn back and read 12 again, except that the voice will not repeat its message. 165 The picture frames are firmly fixed to the walls, but however long you poke, prod and prise at them you are unable to move them or find any concealed doors or openings. If you decide to stand before the sheet of glass, turn to 181. Should you decide to sit in the chair, turn to 133. Otherwise you may as well leave the room, and turn to 210. 166 Your sudden stillness does not fool the plant. Perhaps it senses your presence through the network of roots beneath the soil. In any event, it puffs a cloud of spores over you, and you suffer 10 Points of Damage. If this kills you, turn to 333. Should you survive, you are still in trouble, as another of the red flowers is turning in your direction. Turn to 45.

167-169 167

The area of bones stretches away from you, both along the base of the cliff and out into the neglected garden away from it. Carefully, you pick your way through, trying to avoid the skulls and larger skeletons, until you come to a clear patch in the centre. As you step into this area, you find yourself falling, and topple into a pit several feet deep. The fall does not hurt you as you seem to have landed on something soft and damp, but you find yourself immediately under attack. Something pale, about a foot in diameter, darts out of the darkness and inflicts a stinging bite for 3 Points of Damage. Amend your Character Sheet and if this kills you turn to 333. Otherwise, if you wish to draw a weapon and fight back at whatever has attacked you, turn to 60. Should you prefer to try to scramble out of the pit, the rim of which seems to be a couple of feet above your head, turn to 92. 168 As soon as you try to lead your Wyvern into a pentagram in front of a door of a different colour, it rears back. The thin chain immediately snaps, and the Wyvern attacks you. For the first round of combat it has the benefit of SURPRISE, as outlined in the Game System. Turn to 8 if you are fighting the red Wyvern. Turn to 10 if it is the green. For the blue one, turn to 15. 169 After a long, hard battle you manage to slay the

170-172 tripodal creature. You may add 3 Fortune Points to your Character Sheet, and consume a Potion of Healing if you so wish. You should now turn to 73 but note that the FOURTH option listed at the end of that section in italics is NOT now available. 170 In an attempt to escape the sound of footsteps, you jump onto the windowsill, kick the window glass out, and leap through into the darkness beyond. Unfortunately, the window was in the outside wall of the tower, which is itself on the south east corner of the castle. You descend over two hundred feet as you return to the garden rather more quickly than you left it. Turn to 333. 171

As soon as you step into the design, which you. recognise as a pentagram, the lines stop glowing, and the grey curtain disappears. You can see a larger room beyond, with framed pictures covering the walls, and a purple door in the centre of the wall opposite you. If you step into the room with the pictures, turn to 300. If you go the other way, across this room to the stairs, turn to 123. 172 The glass turns out to be very strong, and easily resists your first tentative blows. It is obviously that a really mighty blow will be needed to smash it. The fog beyond seems to be thinning a little, and you can make out the

173-174 hazy outline of a figure standing a few feet away. If you make a tremendous effort to smash the glass, turn to 274. If you pause to see if the figure will be revealed, turn to 107. 173 Slashing at the yellowish-green creepers and stalks of the mauve flowers you fight your way towards the edge of the flower bed. A total of 5 flowers can reach you: they effectively have an Expertise of 12 and can do 1 Point of Damage each when they hit you. The Vitality is immaterial, as you cannot hope to kill the whole plant (or bed of plants - you really cannot tell if it is one plant or many). You will have to go through four rounds of combat to escape, and each hit you score will reduce the numbers biting you by one. Thus if you manage to hit in all four rounds you would suffer 4,3,2 and 1 Damage, or a total of 10 in all. Any misses, and you would obviously suffer more! Conduct the four rounds of combat and, if this brings about your death, turn to 333. If you survive to reach the far side, turn to 13.

174 As you may have already gathered, the contents of this tank are very unpleasant indeed. Most of the wastes and refuse from the castle above find their way down here and, although you are able to get your feet on the bottom and wade out you are now a very sick adventurer. Not only that - wherever you decide to climb out, the creature will be waiting for you. You have difficulty in

You see the hazy outline of a figure

175-176 breathing, feel desperately sick from some of the slime which you accidentally swallowed, and your Expertise has been reduced by 2 Points. You are now as slow as the creature facing you, and therefore have no way to escape from combat unless you can kill it. The creature has Expertise 11, Vitality 30 and does 4 Points of Damage if it hits you. If the fight results in your death, turn to 333. Should you somehow manage to kill it, turn to 21.

175 Recklessly you slide under the bed, disturbing two small shoes, a large earthenware vessel and a considerable quantity of dust, then lie there trying not to breathe as the door bursts open and several pairs of booted feet rush in. To your considerable disappointment, the young lady in the bed above makes no effort to aid your concealment, but shrieks for assistance, telling the newcomers of the awful monster which burst into her room and is now lying beneath her very bed. One or two deep voices indicate a certain doubt for a moment. Then the evidence of the secret door, still standing open, silences them, the feet approach your hiding place and you have no choice but to crawl out. If you come out fighting, turn to 90. Should you keep your sword in its scabbard, and try to brazen things out, turn to 95.

177 Those fighting you have Expertise 11, Vitality 7 and can do 2 Points of Damage with their swords. After two rounds of combat the fourth one will clamber out of the cell and join in. This one's characteristics are the same as the others, except that it can do only 1 Point of Damage, with a dagger. (If you previously took the dagger away, it will have only Expertise 9, and will do 1 Point of Damage with its teeth.) In the confined space of the passage, the melee is fast and furious Calculate E + 4H for yourself and each opponent. You will hit all those whose score you exceed, while any who beat yours will hit you. If the fight brings about your death, turn to 333. Should you kill all three opponents, turn to 160. 177 You move forward to the archway, and immediately engaged by its spectral guardian.

are

Combat is conducted in the usual way as outlined in the Skyfall Game System. Your opponent's Vitality proves to be of little concern, as his Expertise is 24! You are unable to hit him, whereas he hits you in every round for 2 Points of Damage (unless you Use Fortune to reduce this). It will take you three rounds of combat to evaluate this, by which time you will have suffered the loss of 6 Vitality Points, unless you Used Fortune. Amend your Character Sheet and If the Damage has killed you, turn to 333.

176 You find yourself in the passage, fighting two Hobgoblins armed with swords. The one with the crossbow retreats, probably hoping to get a clear shot.

If you wish to withdraw from combat by backing into the room, turn to 164. Should you decide to stay in combat, but hit at the

178-180 armour or shield instead, turn to 180. If a stray memory concerning coffin contents occurs to you, and you decide to dive into the open tomb, turn to 196. 178 If you are prepared to endure several painful gashes from the jagged thorns on the thick brambles wrapped around your legs, you will gradually be able to cut yourself free and force your way back to the edge of the dangerous area. The plant sends several more slim branches to try to prevent your escape but eventually, for the loss of 3 Vitality Points, you get clear. Carefully you work your way around the edge of the area, as the by now seething mass lashes at you unavailingly, until you get back to the rock face on the far side of the plant. Amend your Character Sheet for the damage, add 1 Fortune Point for your success, then turn to 7 if you are heading east, or 65 if you are going west. 179 The moment you drop the chain, the Wyvern attacks, and has the benefit of SURPRISE (as outlined in the Game System) for the first round of combat. If you find yourself fighting the red Wyvern turn to 8. For the green, turn to 10. If you chose the blue one, turn to 15. 180 Combat is joined with the spectral guardian, which proves to have an Expertise of 12 and do 2 Points of Damage if it hits you. The question of its Vitality is

181 something we will leave for the moment, unless you manage to hit it. Conduct the first three rounds of combat in the normal fashion. If you manage to hit your opponent, turn to 201. If you fail to hit your opponent, you can review the position after three rounds Should you have sustained enough damage to cause your death, you must, of course, turn to 333. Otherwise, start again at the head of this section 180 if you wish to continue striking at the armour, or turn to 177 if you wish to aim at the gaps between. If you prefer to withdraw from the combat turn to 164. You may possibly recall something concerning the importance of coffins to 'Undead' monsters. If this persuades you to dive full length into the open tomb, turn to 196. 181 When you stand squarely in front of this frame you realise that it is not the glass itself which is obscured: you are actually looking through the glass into a dark area filled with smoke or fog, which swirls about as if blown by a fitful breeze. The effect is rather hypnotic. If you decide to move away from this part of the room, turn to 11. Should you prefer to wait where you are, in case the fog clears, turn to 107. You might prefer to step forward and try to smash the glass, to discover what lies beyond. In this case, turn to 172.

182-184 182

Hastily you jerk open the cupboard door, fight your way in amongst the jumble of female clothing within, and pull the door shut. Seconds later, you hear the door to the room bang open and several pairs of booted feet rush in. The young lady in the bed seems to have ignored your hasty words and you hear her telling the newcomers that an awful monster had burst into her room and then hidden in the cupboard. The footsteps approach your hiding place. If you jump out and try to fight your way clear, turn to 138. Should you try to find a way out through the back of the cupboard, turn to 209. 183 The patch of bones proves to extend some twenty yards along the cliff and perhaps fifteen yards out from it, although it is difficult to tell in the almost complete darkness. Feeling your way around the outside, you eventually bump against the cliff again on the far side of the bones, and continue your journey along the cliff-base. Turn to 33 if you are heading west, or 76 if you are going east. 184 You release the thin gold chain. As soon as the end tinkles on the rock floor, the Wyvern attacks you, and for the first round of combat it has the benefit of SURPRISE (as per the Game System). If you are fighting the red Wyvern, turn to 8. For the green, turn to 10. And for the blue one, turn to 15.

You pull the cupboard door shut

188-190

185-187 185 Amend your Character Sheet for the loss of 4 Vitality Points, and you must also note that the wound is diseased. When the creature's arm struck you, it left the wound covered with muck from the central tank, which immediately infected the wound. Unless you can find something like a 'Cure Disease' Potion (those 'Potions of Healing' with which you started the adventure do not affect disease) you probably have only a limited time to live. If you now wish to continue the fight, turn to 105. The creature is now too close for you to escape through the black door for the time being, so if you wish to get away you will have to retreat around the room, turning to 57. 186 Despite your efforts, you are unable to shut the door and are still heaving at it when the other door bursts open and five guards rush in, swords drawn. There seems little point in leading five armed guards into the secret passages in and below the castle", where you would have to fight them sooner or later. Better to fight them here and leave no witnesses! Turn to 191 but ignore the first paragraph. 187 The Hobgoblin is strong, but you have caught it off balance. Calculate E + 4H and you will need a score of 14 to haul it through the opening into the cell with you. You may modify your score by sacrificing Fortune Points if you wish. If you succeed, turn to 203. Should you fail, the Hobgoblin will wrench itself free, and the door will be hastily locked shut. The

Hobgoblins will shout and glare at you, but take no other action. In this case, turn to 364. 188 Now your mysterious attacker has been overcome, you experience no difficulty in pulling yourself out of the pit. Crossing the area of animal bones you get back to the base of the cliff at the far side, and continue feeling your way towards the west. Turn to 33. 189 Your sudden dart for the far side of the room seems to take the plant by surprise. It puffs a cloud of spores at you, but most miss and you take only 4 Points of Damage. If this is sufficient to kill you, turn to 333. Should you survive, you make it safely to the door, and the two plants turn their attention back to the conflict between them. You may pause to take a Potion if you wish, then . . . If you have reached the brown door, you can pull it open and step through, turning to 29. Should you pass through the blue door, turn to 38. 190 Skilfully you avoid landing in the unspeakably horrid contents of the large tank, and crash to the stone floor instead. The basic damage for such a fall would be 20 Points, but you can reduce this by your cat-like agility. Calculate E + 4H — T and deduct that score from 20. The resulting figure is the damage you take and this should be deducted from your Vitality score. If this results in your death, turn to 333. Should you survive, your troubles are not yet over, as

191-192 the creature which knocked away your ladder (and incidentally damaged it beyond repair) is standing right over you. You have no choice but to fight it for at least two rounds of Combat before you will have a chance to get clear. It has Expertise 11, Vitality 30 and does 4 Points of Damage if it hits you. What is more, you cannot actually strike at it as you had to sheathe your weapon to climb the ladder. If you are reduced to, or below 0 Vitality Points during those two rounds of Combat, turn to 333. If you are hit but not killed, turn to 185. Should you survive unharmed, you will be able to draw a weapon and may turn to 105 if you wish to continue the combat or 57 if you scramble clear. 191 The girl in the bed starts screaming again for a moment, then stops to watch the fight with interest. Each of the guards has Expertise 10, Vitality 9 and does 2 Points of Damage if he manages to hit you with his sword. They are wearing ringmail jackets, however, so your Expertise is reduced by 1 Point for this combat to reflect their greater protection. You will have to calculate E + 4H for yourself and each of the surviving guards in each round of combat: you will hit all those whose scores you exceed, while any who beat yours will hit you. If the combat leads to your death, turn to 333. Should you kill all five guards, turn to 225. 192 Soon you hear a considerable number of footsteps approaching, and the door is thrown open. As the one-eyed man steps in, you leap to the attack, hoping

The door is thrown open

193-194 you may be able to kill the Margrave before being overcome. Sad to relate, the Margrave has not come himself... he has sent a squad of his personal bodyguards to fetch you. These are well-trained fighters, some armed with halberds and others with crossbows, and all wearing chain-mail armour. Each has an Expertise of 12 and Vitality of 13, while the halberds can do 4 Points of Damage. Whatever your weapon, you can only do 1 Point of Damage against opponents so armoured, and the result is a foregone conclusion. Eventually one of the wickedly sharp hooks on the expertly-wielded halberds pulls your legs from under you, and the soldiers close in to chop you to pieces. Turn to 333. 193 You descend the stairs and find they open into a small room, some fifteen feet square. At shoulder height above the bottom step is a stone sconce designed to hold a torch. Remembering this from your original entrance to the castle rock, you twist the sconce and the wall on the far side of the room pivots upwards towards you, until it rests against the ceiling. The wooden hoe, which acts as the opening lever from the other side, hangs down conveniently to hand. You hasten beneath the opening wall into the tool room beyond, with its green door leading to the abandoned garden, giving the lever a push to replace the moving wall behind you. Turn to 49.

194 Sheathing your sword, you remove your back pack and fumble out one of the flasks of oil. These are stout

195-196 earthenware vessels, tightly corked and you have to consider how to employ the oil to burn the plant, but not yourself. If you pour it on the brambles surrounding you and then light it, you may well get free but would seem in greatest danger of setting yourself alight too. On the other hand, if you hurled the flask against the rock wall above the centre of the plant, you should be able to splash oil over a considerable area, and if that included the plant's 'brain' you might kill it if you could then ignite it. While you are considering these alternatives, you take 2 more Points of Damage from the vicious thorns. Please amend your Character Sheet, t h e n If you decide to try pouring the oil, turn to 39. If you prefer to hurl the flask, turn to 55. Should you decide that any use of fire might be too dangerous, turn back to the end of 162 and choose again. 195 The Wyvern follows you readily enough, and you can take it for a walk around the room. If you try to take it down the circular stairs, turn to 136. If you try to lead it into a pentagram occupied by one of the other Wyverns, turn to 168. Should you return to the empty pentagram, turn to 115 but ignore the first paragraph. If you eventually tire of leading it around, and release the chain, turn to 184, unless you offer the end to the Wyvern itself, in which case turn to 299. 196 Abandoning the combat, you hurl yourself headfirst

197 into the tomb of polished black stone. This is about seven feet long, three feet wide and three feet deep, and the lid has been slid back to leave a two by three feet gap. Hastily you wriggle inside, sustaining another blow as you do. The interior proves to be empty, apart from dust and cobwebs. There aren't even any bones! The sword is thrust into the opening, and you sustain another blow. There is nothing you can do in here; you will have to emerge or be slowly prodded to death. Scrambling out, you take a further blow and find yourself back in the fray. Your foray into the tomb has cost you 6 Vitality Points and you may NOT reduce this by Using Fortune. Amend your Character Sheet then If this has caused your death, turn to 333. If you axe aiming your blows at the armour, turn to 180. While if you are aiming at the gaps between the armour, turn to 177. 197 The chair quickly accelerates until you are spinning fast enough to make the walls a blur. Then, after a few seconds, the pace slows and eventually you come to a halt, once again facing the frame without a picture. This time the glass is clear: so clear, in fact, that it seems to have disappeared, and you are gazing through an opening into another room. The arms open abruptly, and you are free to leave the chair. If you cross to examine this new room, turn to 62. You are unable to find any other changes in the room, and your only alternative is to leave through the purple door. If you do, turn to 27.

198-200 198

As you decided to bring the heavy device through the door, you probably knew what to expect on the other side, having come this way before. There is a large square room, one hundred feet across, with a large flowerbed on either side of a central passage which leads to a blue door on the far side of the room. Each flowerbed is occupied by a different type of plant or plants (you cannot tell whether the stalks, flowers and creepers all belong to the same parent plant or not) and the two different types seem to be at war with each other. It has probably occurred to you to use the bellows device to puff the spores over one or the other, or possibly both beds of flowers. If you start on the bed with the darker green foliage and red flowers, turn to 215. Should you choose the yellowish green one, with the mauve flowers, then turn to 231. 199 You stand outside a closed door in the base of the rock pinnacle. If you turn the rusty ton handle to open the door, turn to 4. Should you move away from the door, along the base of the cliff, turn to 44 if you go west, or 98 if you go east. If you have company, you will want to return to the woods where you left your escort, and should turn to 370. If you return alone, turn to 354. 200 The moment the chain touches the floor inside the

201-202 pentagram, the Wyvern attacks, leaping to interpose its bulk between you and the open door. If you are fighting the led Wyvern, turn to 8. Should it be the green one, turn to 10. And for the blue, turn to 15. 201 When you manage to score a hit on your opponent's armour or shield, a strange thing happens. Your weapon meets no resistance, and your opponent vanishes. You peer into the coffin, but there is nothing there either. It seems your entrance must have triggered an ancient mechanism to slide open the lid of the tomb, and the appearance of your spectral opponent and his warning can only have been the result of powerful illusory spells, probably cast by some long dead court magician. The trouble with such illusions, of course, is that if you believe in them they can cause you quite real damage. Only if you succeed in striking them can they be dispelled. There seems nothing further to keep you here and, brushing past the open tomb, you climb the stairway which curves upwards to your left. You estimate that this takes you some forty feet higher through the rock on which the castle stands, and at the top a passage leads away towards the west. This passage proves to be sixty feet long with two metal doors. One, at the far end, is painted blue: the other, half-way along on the right, is a dull black colour. If you go to the blue one, turn to 14, while if you stop at the black one, turn to 9. 202 Unlike most bedrooms, there is little in the way of wardrobes or chests of drawers. You suppose that a

The Princess's room?

203-204 princess must have maids and attendants to fetch and carry all her garments, and therefore has no need to put them away herself. Apart from the bed and the mirrors, the other furnishings include a chaise longue, several over-stuffed chairs and a large chest with a cushioned lid at the foot of the bed. When you approach it, you can see the chest is secured by a hasp and padlock. You have no particular skill in picking locks, but if you wish to force the chest open, turn to 233. Should you prefer to pull the four-poster curtains aside, turn to 344. If you decide to open the door in the straight wall, turn to 249. 203 You have managed to haul the Hobgoblin, tray and all, into the cell with you. For the moment you have it at a disadvantage as it sprawls on the slimy rock floor. If you still have your own weapons, you can draw one to fight with: if both have been lost or broken you can snatch the dagger from the Hobgoblin's belt and fight with that. You now have two choices If you try to overcome the one in the cell with you and use it as a screen or hostage to bargain with those outside, turn to 348. If you try to dive through the door-flap before those outside can secure it, turn to 208. 204 You need a hefty push with your shoulder to get the door open, and the hinges creak protestingly when it moves.

205-207 The space beyond is pitch dark but you prefer not to risk attracting the attention of any watchers on the battlements above. Carefully, you feel your way inside and push the door shut before lighting your lantern. Turn to 218. 205

Brushing the dust and cobwebs from the device on the table, you find that it looks very well made, and has deteriorated little over the years. The metal drum seems fairly heavy, as if half-full of something. Tentatively, you push the bellows down a little way, and to your surprise a small puff of spores issues from the nozzle. If you decide to take this through the door, for any reason, turn to 198. If not, you feel it is too heavy to carry up the stairs and therefore leave it where it is, turning to 19. 206 The stairs curve downwards through 180 degrees, descending forty feet, and bring you to an archway leading into a burial chamber, lined with tombs and sarcophagi. One tomb with an open lid partially blocks the entrance, but you are able to squeeze past into the room. At the far end is a white door, through which you make your way. Turn to 100. 207

The thin gold chain slides easily back into the hollow hook, and peering around the door you see the end of the chain dangling on the other side. You feed it in until the chain is taut between the door and the Wyvern, which is now turning to resume the same motionless stance you

208-209 first saw when you came up the circular stair. As you close the door, you notice that the end of the chain slides down another couple of feet, and the end becomes caught in a small nest of pins at just the right height on the back of the door. You cross the square room to the small door. If you entered the worn with the red door, turn to 24. If you chose the green one, turn to 40. And for the blue one, turn to 56.

210-212 Turn to 191, ignoring the first paragraph, and remember the guards have SURPRISE. 210 You have opened a wooden door, which has been painted a dark purple colour on both sides. On one side is a circular room with two other doors and a hole in the floor, above which is suspended a metal ladder. If you step into this room, turn to 5. On the other side there appears to be a small picture gallery.

208 As you dive for the door-flap, the Hobgoblin in the cell grabs for your ankle. You will need to sacrifice 1 Fortune Point to evade his clutches. If you do, turn to 176. Otherwise, you are pulled up short. Those outside have time to shut and lock the opening flap, and you will have to attend to the one in here with you. In this case, turn to 348.

If you enter that, turn to 242. 211 The door opens easily and you find a smallish square room on the other side, some twenty feet across and the same in height. There is a small door in the far wall, only about four feet wide. The Wyvern turns its head, looking first at you, then at the small room, and then back at you again. If you let the chain drop inside the pentagram, then step out of it into the room, turn to 200.

209

Try as you may, you can find no way out through the back of the cupboard. (Perhaps one secret door is enough for any room!) While you search, the door is jerked open, and five guards stare in at you. Relieved to find themselves facing a human intruder, instead of some Undead Monster, they attack. For the first round of combat you will be greatly impeded by the clothes hanging in the cupboard: then you can force your way out and fight on more even terms. To reflect this, the guards have the benefit of SURPRISE for the first round.

If you step out of the pentagram into the room, keeping hold of the chain to lead the Wyvern inside turn to 216. If you decide to feed the end of the chain back inside the hook on the now open door, you will have to step out of the pentagram, and should turn to 207. 212 Nothing appears to happen to you as you cross the orange pentagram which covers the circular floor.

215-216 Reaching the yellow door, you open it, and step through into a passage. Turn to 134. 213 You enter the workroom and move over to the bench. A brief look round reveals no new weapons, and you idly leaf through the book. It proves mainly to contain descriptions of coats of arms, and you chance upon those of Prince Elrindell, 'Upon a field sable a Gryphon or,' when you hear the sound of booted feet approaching beyond the further door. If you stay where you are, but extinguish the lantern, turn to 248. Should you retreat back into the secret passage, closing the secret door, turn to 289. 214 You step through the purple door into the fresh air of the old castle garden. The night outside is very dark and you will have to feel your way carefully to avoid tripping over the tangled vegetation. Closing the door behind you, turn to 28. 215 The clouds of spores seem to have little effect on the plants in this flowerbed at first, and you estimate from the weight that you have probably used half the contents of the drum. If you continue, turn to 247. Should you decide to try it on the other flowerbed, turn to 279. 216 You step out of the pentagram through the doorway

217-218 into the square room. The Wyvern watches you, but makes no attempt to come out of the pentagram itself. If you drop the chain and leave it, turn to 179. If you feed the end of the chain back into the hollow hook, on the now open door, turn to 207. Should you give a tug on the chain to try to persuade the Wyvern into the room with you, turn to 221. 217 Anxious to escape from this room before the guards burst in, you rush across to the window in the opposite wall. Without pausing, you dive headlong through it, covering your face with your arms. The wind whistles past you for an awfully long time, and you realise the window was in the outside of the castle, and did not open on the inner courtyard as you may have hoped. By the time you reach the garden, over two hundred feet below, you are going quite fast. Turn to 333. 218 Your lantern reveals a large room, probably once a cave but now enlarged to a more regular shape. The walls are lined with shelves to well above head height, and against two walls the lower levels are given over to hutches such as might hold small animals. All these are empty, but several still have straw in them. The shelves were apparently designed to hold trays of bulbs and seedlings. It is obvious that many years have passed since the room last saw use, however, as the bulbs are withered and dessicated, and the trays hold nothing but dry earth. At one end of the room is a door, painted a dark purple colour, which you know leads out into the abandoned garden. At the other, several of the shelves have collapsed under the weight of the

219-220 earth-filled trays, to reveal another door behind them. This is a very faded yellow colour. If you open the purple door, first extinguish your lantern, then turn to 214. If you open the faded yellow one, turn to 234. 219 You clamber from the pool on the far side, leaving three flowers much agitated by the loss of their tentacles. For the time being you have opened a safe way across, until the tentacles can grow again. The opening proves to be a circular tunnel, leading upwards at a shallow angle and bending to the right. You will have to proceed on hands and knees. If you crawl up the sloping tunnel, turn to 235. Should you decide against it, you will have to return the way you came, across the pool, up the rocky slope and through the carpet of fungi to the silver door. If you do, turn to 30. 220

Hastily, you explain all about the quest Prince Eldrindell persuaded you to undertake, adding details of your adventure along the way. The jailers listen with great interest. When you have finished, the one-eyed man declares 'The Margrave must hear of this: feed this prisoner well!' and hurries off along the passage. Two of the Hobgoblins follow him, while one of the torchbearers and the archer stay to watch you. After some minutes the two Hobgoblins return with what may well be a tasty breakfast for Hobgoblins, but looks pretty revolting to you. If you decline politely, and eat some of your own rations, turn to 364.

221-222 Should you feel this may present a chance of escape, and accept the food, turn to 236. 221 Unfortunately, the fine gold chain turns out to have at least one rather weak link. As soon as you tug on it, the chain breaks, and the Wyvern attacks you. If you stay in the square room it will come in after you. Being extremely fast, it will be upon you before you can close the door. If you dash out into the circular room it will be upon you in a moment. If you are fighting the red Wyvern, turn to 8. For the green, turn to 10. And if it is the blue one, turn to 15. 222 You follow the passage for rather more than two hundred feet, gradually descending as you go, and steadily veering to the right until you feel you must be heading south east. Then the passage runs into a circular cave, perhaps thirty feet high and fifty feet across. In the centre of the floor lie two large eggs, pale green in colour and about three feet long. A strange noise diverts your attention to the left hand side of the cave, where a wider passage leads off. Slithering slowly into the cave is a creature which resembles a giant slug. It is about twelve feet wide and eight feet high, although its head, with two eyestalks and a tiny mouth is carried slightly higher. The stalks swivel towards you, and the Giant Slug turns in your direction. For the moment you cannot tell how long it may be, as its body is still slithering out of the other passage into the cave.

223-225 As there are only two ways our of here, and one is still occupied by the newcomer . . . If you go back along the passage to the surface, turn to 250. Should you stay here, hoping to take the other one, turn to 266. 223 The blue door opens easily, and you find a smaller, square room some twenty yards across. In the centre of the far wall is a small door, perhaps four feet high and a little over two feet wide. The room is otherwise empty. If you shut the blue door behind you, and cross the square room to open the small door, turn to 56. Otherwise you stay in the circular room, shut the blue door and must turn to 32, ignoring the first two paragraphs. 224 You have come to a flight of steps in the solid rock of the castle crag. At the top, a ten feet long passage leads to a grey door. At the bottom, a forty feet long passage has a green door at the far, left-hand end, and a small lever set in the end wall. If you go up, to the grey door, turn to 122. If you go down, to the green door, turn to 272.

It slithers slowly into the cave

225 Such is your skill with the sword that you have been able to overcome no less than five of the Margrave's picked men-at-arms. You may add 5 Fortune Points to your Character Sheet and also increase your Expertise by 1 Point for the remainder of this adventure. If you

226 wish, you may consume one of your Potions of Healing. When you have finished amending your Character Sheet, you turn to the young woman sitting up in bed. Not being completely stupid, it is apparent to her that screaming doesn't produce much in the way of assistance, and she asks what you want of a poor maid-servant. If you had been under the impression that this was the Princess Wanda, your hopes are dashed. However, it turns out that you have at least found her personal maid, and she is able to describe the Princess's room on the floor above. You persuade her not to give you away and she agrees, providing you dispose of the bodies. The only hiding place is in the secret passage, where you have to arrange them in a line along the floor. Then you take your leave, shutting the door with the maid's assistance. You then climb the narrow steps. Please turn to 72. 226 The frames hold life-sized portraits of men and women wearing a variety of costumes, some dating from centuries before, but all are depicted sitting in the chair you can see in the centre of the room, or in one exactly like it. The exception is one frame which appears to contain nothing but a sheet of smoky, dark glass. This is in the centre of the wall opposite the door, directly facing the chair. If you stand squarely between the door and the empty frame, the better to examine it, turn to 181. If you prefer to avoid that one, and instead try examining the other frames more closely, turn to 165.

227-229 Otherwise, turn to 242. 227 You stand once more in the old abandoned gardens at the foot of the crag. So far as you can judge, you are not far from the south east corner. Leading up into the darkness is the rope you have just descended . . . there must be some 250 feet of it in all. If you wish to seek the entrance to the passage in the crag again, turn to 98. If you prefer to return to the wood where you left your escort, turn to 354. Should you wish to tie the rope to a bush or boulder, turn to 243. 228 Descending some two hundred and fifty feet of rope on a pitch-dark night is not all that easy, especially when you are trying to make as little noise as possible for fear of alerting the guards patrolling the battlements above. Princess Wanda has an Expertise of 11. Calculate E + 4H - T for each of you; you will each require a score of 13 to get down safely. If necessary, you may increase the score for either of you by sacrificing your Fortune Points on a one-for-one basis. If you both succeed, turn to 244. Should you succeed, and the Princess fail, turn to 260. Should you fail, turn to 333. 229 In order to reach the blue door in safety, you need to ensure you don't tread on any of the green creepers which spread across the floor in all directions. calculate E + 4H and you will need a score of 14 to

230-232 succeed. For once you may NOT amend your score by Using Fortune, and for this calculation only your Expertise is reduced by 1 Point for every person who is accompanying you. If you succeed, you teach the blue door and, stepping through, should turn to 64. Should you fail, turn to 245. 230 Standing on the balcony gives you a better view across the room, but you cannot see anything that was not apparent before, and there is nothing of note on the balcony itself, apart from the remains of a few wooden chairs, which seem to have collapsed from sheer age. You return to the floor. If you now decide to cross the area of metallic squares, turn to 262. Should you prefer to leave by the door through which you entered, turn to 5 if this was blue, or 272 if it was green. 231 After the first few puffs, the effect on the paler plants is significant. The creepers, foliage and the mauve snapdragon flowers all start to wilt where the spores touch them, and sag to the earth. If you continue to concentrate on this flowerbed until the drum is empty, you feel you should be able to cover the whole area, and should turn to 263. If you wish to save part of the contents for the other flowerbed, turn to 295. 232 The room is bare and empty save for the very centre. There stands a massive desk, with a high-legged chair

A Skeleton sits at the desk

233-234 drawn up to it, and a skeleton in the rotting remains of a once-magnificent gown sitting in the chair with one hand on the sloping desk-lid. Cautiously you move a little closer, and are able to see that the hand on the desk wears a ring, with a large gem. There is no sign of any way out of this room, save the yellow door through which you entered. The desk has no drawers, and if you wish to search it you will have to raise the desk-lid. If you wish to open the desk, or remove the ring, turn to 282. Should you prefer to leave the room by the yellow door, turn to 129. 233 You manage to force the hilt of your dagger behind the hasp and, with a sharp heave, rip it clear off the chest. There is a splintering of wood and, crouching by the foot of the bed you listen to see if you have disturbed anyone. It seems not, as you hear nothing, so you cautiously raise the lid. Inside is a beautiful carved ebony box, decorated with golden representations of the royal crest. If you decide it would be a shame to leave this behind, and lift it out, turn to 265. If you open the lid to see what it contains, turn to 281. Should you prefer to close the chest, and move away from it, turn to 202.

235

you eventually manage to undo them. As you push the door open, the hinges give way, and the door falls to the rock floor with a crash. A cloud of dust flies up. When it clears, you can see a long passage leading away into the depths of the crag. Rather irregular in shape, you suspect it may be of natural origin, and the curve of the floor underfoot suggests it may once have been a water course. Mostly, it seems about eight feet wide and perhaps twice that in height. The passage slopes slightly downwards away from you, and bends gradually to the right. If you follow the passage, turn to 222. Should you decide against it, you move back to the purple door, extinguish your lantern and step through. Turn to 214.

235 For quite some time you crawl along the tunnel, which leads sometimes up, sometimes down, and twists and turns so much that you soon lose your sense of direction. After about twenty minutes you emerge into a small cave where four other similar tunnels lead off at different angles. The ceiling is slightly higher, but not high enough for you to stand up. A distant squealing suggests that more of the large rats may be in the vicinity.

234 The door seems to be incredibly old, and you wonder how long it had been hidden behind the shelves. There are two stout bolts holding it closed, both extremely rusty, but

You pause to consider your chances of getting lost in a maze of tunnels, and also whether this is really likely to have been a route used by ladies from the castle. If you decide to return to the silver door, while you

236-238 still know which tunnel leads to the pool, turn to 30. Should you decide to proceed along one of the other tunnels, turn to 240. 236 One of the torchbearers produces a key and unlocks the door-flap, while the one with the whip, which he has now coiled about his waist, crouches to pass in a tray with two dishes and a large wooden mug. If you accept the tray and do nothing else, turn to 364. If you seize the Hobgoblin's wrists and try to yank him into the cell with you, turn to 187. 237 Together, you return to the opening to the secret passage. The white-painted door, through which you entered the room, is difficult to shut, but your companion turns out to be quite strong and together you are able to accomplish this. From now on, except when any fighting takes place, the word 'you' will refer to the pair of you. Turn to 74. 238

Although you have defeated the two men-at-arms, the alarm has been well and truly raised, and you can hear shouted orders and the sounds of many feet ascending the stairs. Ignoring the still-screaming servant on the landing, you dash back into the bedroom and slam the door, only to discover that there is no way to bolt or secure it from the inside. Turn to 366.

239-241 239

As you race across the cave, the Giant Slug spits at you and, unable to dodge, you take 4 Points of Damage from the burning slime. If this kills you, turn to 333. Should you survive, you reach the passage and should turn to 277. 240 You crawl off, along one of the other tunnels leading from the cave, and in due course this leads into another similar one, after many twists and turns. Or it may even be the same one, you really cannot tell. At some time the rats will find you, and will attack from both ends of the tunnel you are in. Being unaware as yet that you have opened a path to their favourite food, they are quite happy to make a meal of human flesh. You are only able to defend yourself in one direction, and cannot turn round in the narrow tunnel, so the end will be slow but certain. Turn to 333. 241

Having found the Princess's maid, you can at least hope to get clear directions from her to the Princess's from, and it may be a good idea to take her along to ensure you get the right girl next time. As soon as you mention this plan, however, your hopes is dashed. The maid, whose name is Becky, is by no means stupid. Although her hopes of marriage to the Duke may be remote, she can see that rescuing the Princess is not the way to enhance them. She refuses point-blank to help, and insists that you get her out of

242-243 the castle to her beloved at best possible speed. If you, albeit reluctantly, agree, turn to 237. Should you refuse, turn to 273. 242 You have entered a square room about thirty feet across. The ceiling is only eight feet high, and apart from a twelve inch clear band at the top and bottom of the walls, which have been painted white, the walls are covered with large picture frames, each some six feet square. The only gap is where the purple door is situated. In the centre of the room is what appears to be a chair. The arms and back have been carved to represent a hideous reptile or dragon, complete with fearsome head, and it stands on one cylindrical leg which seems to be sunk into the floor. If you leave through the purple door, turn to 5. If you decide to have a rest by sitting in the chair, turn to 133. Should you decide to examine the pictures, turn to 226. 243 Finding a stunted tree, you tie the rope to it. The guards above take some time to break into the room you vacated, being as loth as you to face the snakes. Suddenly, the rope is pulled taut, and you realise the guards have reached the window. For a moment you wait to see if any are brave (or foolhardy) enough to slide down after you, and your sword is ready to challenge any who do. Instead, the rope must have been cut, as coil upon coil comes tumbling down around you.

The chair stands on one cylindrical leg

244-245 This may come in useful. If you wish you can take it with you, entering '250 ft. rope' on your Character Sheet. If you do, however, it will be a considerable encumbrance, and you must also reduce your Expertise by 1 Point as long as you carry it. Now turn to 98 if you wish to find your way back into the passage within the crag. If you prefer to return to the wood and your military escort, turn to 354. 244 Quietly, you congratulate the Princess on her adventuring skills then, leading her by the hand, set off for the wood where your escort waits. Turn to 370. 245 Unfortunately, you accidentally step on one of the dark green creepers, and the sentient plant views this as an attack. One of the red, tulip-shaped flowers turns in your direction and puffs a cloud of spores over you. This causes a total of 10 Points of Damage. It is possible that you are not alone. If this is the case, you can apportion the Damage Points as you wish between those persons present. Others who may be present are Princess Wanda, who has a Vitality of 11 and the maid Becky, who has Vitality 7. Should this lead to your death, turn to 333. If you survive, you will be able to complete the crossing in safety. If you step through the blue door, turn to 64. It is possible that, if you were only escorting Becky and the encounter kills her, you may now wish to retrace your steps and try to get the Princess out. In this case

246-249 you return to the brown door. To step through the brown door, turn to 29, but ignore the first paragraph. 246 Beyond the yellow door is a small, circular room, ten feet across. The floor is covered with glowing, orange lines, which you recognise as forming the magical design of a pentagram. On the other side is a red door, but to reach it you will have to cross the pentagram. If you do so, turn to 278. Should you prefer to close the yellow door, turn to 134. 247 Despite the apparent lack of effect, you continue to spray the spores all over the flowerbed with the darker foliage and red flowers. By the time the drum is empty you have thoroughly covered it. You then return through the brown door and discard the apparatus. If you now wish to climb the stairs, turn to 19, and write on your Character Sheet 'Plants B'. Should you be on your way out, turn to 308. 248 The footsteps sound like half-a-dozen men at arms, marching in step. They approach, pass the door, then recede into the distance. The castle must obviously be patrolled at night. Turn to 264. 249 A Princess, in Delta, is never left completely alone. She may require some service, small or large, at any hour of day or night, so there must always be an attendant close at hand.

250-252

When you open the door, you find yourself looking out on to a small landing, with carpeted stairs leading up and down, and two men-at-arms holding halberds standing on either side of a door on the opposite side of the landing. They stare at you, their jaws dropping in amazement. If you leap out to silence them, turn to 345. If you step back into the bedroom and shut the door, turn to 329. 250 The Giant Slug is quite slow, and in any event too large to squeeze its bulk into this smaller passage. You have no difficulty in returning to the old storeroom. Once there, you move to the purple door, extinguish your lantern, step through into the abandoned garden and close the door behind you. Then turn to 28. 251

Somehow, you are unable to remove the ring. It is as if there is some spell cast upon it, which also preserves the skeleton, as you are unable to sever finger from hand, wrist from arm or arm from body! While you try these various options, the faceless warrior hits you twice more, and you suffer 6 more Points of Damage. If this kills you, turn to 333. Should you survive, you realise you are going to have to dispose of this menace, and engage it in combat. Turn to 325. 252 The fight does not last long, and you are soon left holding the body of the dead Hobgoblin, trying to use it

The archer continues to fire

253-254 as cover from the archer outside who continues to pump crossbow bolts enthusiastically into the corpse until restrained by his companions. They are certainly not going to unlock the door again, and you have to wait until their Human commander returns. Not being entirely sure of the reaction you may expect if you lower your protection to eat food, or take a Potion, you stay as you are for an hour or so. Turn to 364. 253

Your plan works well. The young woman gulps convulsively and involuntarily swallows the Potion. Then when her eyes pop open they immediately see the miniature of the Duke and her expression indicates that her affections have been successfully engaged. You hastily explain that you are here to conduct her out of the castle to a wedding with her beloved, and her look changes to one of astonished delight. 'But this is Duke Rupert,' she exclaims. 'He'll never marry a common maidservant like me!' With a sick feeling, you realize you have wasted the Potion on the wrong girl. If you can find the real Princess you will now probably have to get her out against her will. Turn to 241. 254

Fortunately, you manage to clip the Princess on the corner of the jaw before she can succeed in stabbing you, as you notice the blade of her dagger is smeared with a dark substance you suspect must be poisonous. She falls back unconscious on to the bed. If you still have the antidote provided by the court

255-256 physician, now would seem a good time to administer it. Should you have already used it, there is no way you will be able to persuade the Princess to accompany you willingly. In such a case, you take the precaution of tying her hands and gagging her with strips torn from a sheet. Turn to 270 if you give her the potion, or 286 if you have to bind and gag her. 255 Turning towards you from the eggs, the Giant Slug raises its head, purses its tiny mouth and spits at you. Calculate E — 3T: if you score 10 or less you will be hit, but a score of 11 or more means you have managed to dodge. The slimy spittle burns like fire, and will cause 4 Points of Damage if it hits. If you are hit and killed, turn to 333. Should you survive, whether hit or not Turn to 287 if you wish to fight the Giant Slug. Turn to 250 if you prefer to leave by the passage down which you arrived. Or turn to 239 if you run across the cave to take the wide passage from which the Giant Slug emerged. 256 The room beyond the green door is too large for your lantern to illuminate more than a part, but it is some thirty feet high and eighty feet wide, stretching away from you into the darkness beyond the range of your light. Apart from a ten foot wide strip along the wall through which you entered, where there is bare rock underfoot, the rest of the floor consists of ten foot metallic

257-258 squares, alternately coloured red and yellow in a chequered pattern. Over the door, a balcony juts out from the wall, twenty feet above the floor, and is reached by a ladder at each end. The ceiling bears several dark, smooth panels, some two feet square. If you wish to climb to the balcony, turn to 230. If you wish to step back through the green door, turn to 272. Should you wish to cross the chequered floor to see what lies beyond the light, turn to 143. 257 Putting your eye to the peephole, you behold a dimly lit bedroom beautifully furnished in blue and gold. There are thick carpets on the floor, mirrors everywhere and a magnificent fourposter bed concealed behind filmy curtains. This certainly looks a bedroom fit for a princess. A crystal chandelier hangs from the centre of the ceiling, and the few candles left burning provide sufficient illumination for you to be fairly sure that no guards are lurking within. If you turn the handle and push the door open, turn to 285. Should you decide to go back down the curving flight of steps, turn to 387. 258 Moving to the bars, you find they are set deeply into the walls, ceiling and floor, and are quite immovable. At first you cannot find the door, then you notice hinges and a lock and realise that a three foot square section a few inches above the floor could be made to open. The hinges are at the top of this section, so food

259

could readily be passed in but prisoners would have to virtually crawl through. Beyond the bars a passage runs to left and right, and you can see other similar cells at intervals along it. Some distance to the left there is a faint light, possibly from a half-open door, and you can hear distant shouts and laughter. Apart from a faint snoring from the cell just across the passage to your right, there are no other sounds. If you wish to use your dagger to try to pick the lock on the door, turn to 268. Should you try to communicate with the inhabitant of the other cell, turn to 142. You could try to attract the attention of the guards, if such they are, and in that case should turn to 316.

259 You are relieved of your weapons and equipment (which must all be deleted from your Character Sheet) and escorted back along the corridor to an enormous hall. Despite the late hour, numerous guards stand at doorways and on the great staircase, and you are taken into a guardroom where still more lounge around on chairs and bunks. The guard commander ignores your protestations and examines your equipment, appropriating any remaining potion bottles and locking them in a drawer. A senior servant has been summoned and, after looking at you carefully, declares you are definitely not a guest in the castle. You are thrown in a cell for the rest of the night and,

260-262 in the morning, taken under heavy escort to a different part of the castle. Turn to 332. 260 When you reach the bottom, you are dismayed to find the crumpled form of Princess Wanda lying there. She is quite dead, and obviously lost her grip to fall a considerable distance. You wonder at her bravery in falling so silently to avoid giving an alarm. Sadly, you make your way back to the wood where you left your escort. Turn to 354. 261 As you step into the pentagram, the Wyvern comes to life and turns its great head to look at you. Fortunately it makes no attempt to attack.

263-264 If you entered by the green door, turn to 288. If you entered by the blue door, turn to 320 if you step onto the square next-but-one to the wall on either side, and 326 if you choose any other.

263 Working systematically, you cover the whole flowerbed with spores, and the destruction of the yellowish green plant seems complete. There is no longer any movement and the mauve snapdragons are fading as they lie limply on the earth. If you wish, you can safely make your way across the flowerbed to the blue door. If you do so, and pass through it, turn to 64 but remember this plant will be dead if you come back this way again.

Holding the chain, you urge any companions you may have across the floor of the circular room to the top of a circular flight of steps which winds downwards from the centre. If you then close the door and feed the chain back into the hollow hook, turn to 271.

Should you still be on your way up to the castle, you go back through the brown door to the stairs and should turn to 19, marking your Character Sheet 'Plants A'.

Should you lead the red Wyvern over to the steps, descend as far as you can and release the chain, turn to 351.

264 Flipping the pages over, you continue through the book looking for anything of interest which Prince Elrindell's spy may have left.

If you hand the end of the chain to the Wyvern turn to 271. 262 You have decided to cross the red and yellow floor of metallic squares. Events depend to some extent on the door through which you entered this room.

Right at the end, you come across a curious page. Headed 'Shekar Family', it contains merely a list of the seven heraldic colours, though in an unusual order Vert, Argent, Sable, Purpure, Azure, Gules, Or. This may, or may not mean anything to you, but you find nothing else of interest.

265-266 If you return to the secret passage and close the door, turn to 301. Should you decide to open the other door, on the opposite side of the room, turn to 280. 265 The box is too large to fit into your backpack. If you are going to take it with you, it will have to be carried under one arm, where it will prove a considerable encumbrance and will reduce your Expertise by 2 Points under all circumstances. If you accept this, enter 'Jewel Box' in the Standard Equipment box on your Character Sheet, and amend your Expertise score. Then turn to 202. Should you decide to leave the box where it is, after all, you will obviously not amend your Character Sheet. In this case you close the chest. Now turn to 202. If you decide to see what is in the box, in case the contents will fit in your pack, turn to 281. 266 Although the Giant Slug has an imposing bulk, it is extremely slow and seems incapable of doing you any damage (unless you lie down and let it slither over you). This may well be why you elect to stay in the cave, hoping it will eventually clear the other passage for your use. It seems the eggs may belong to the creature, as it pauses to nuzzle them gently on its way across the cave, while its rear end finally emerges into view. If you make a run for the wider passage from which

267-268 the Giant Slug emerged, turn to 239. Should you prefer to face the creature to see what it does next, turn to 255. 267 Unfortunately, the desk proves to contain nothing but sheaves of papers listing details of cross-fertilisation, budding, grafting and planting. You realise these must be the notes of Proquil the Mad, the fifth Margrave. While you are finding this out, the warrior has struck you twice for 6 Points of Damage. If this results in your death, turn to 333. Should you survive, you realise you will have to defend yourself, so turn to 325. 268 The keyhole, naturally enough, is on the outside of the door, and you have to stretch your arm awkwardly through the bars to probe and pry with your dagger. Something inside the lock gives a little, you twist harder with the dagger and there is a sharp snap. Your dagger falls to the floor of the passage, minus two inches of its blade, and the door remains locked. The dagger is now useless, and must be deleted from your Character Sheet. You could try using your sword to try to chip away the rock to free the ends of some of the bars. If so, turn to 284. If you have not previously spoken to the occupant of the other cell, and wish to do so now, turn to 142. Should you try calling the guards, turn to 316. 269

Such an awakening is obviously a frightening ex-

270-272 perience, and had you not held your hand over her mouth it is probable that the young woman would have screamed, bringing guards on the run. As it is, you are able to calm her and ask some questions. It emerges that she is actually the personal maid to the Princess, who occupies a room higher in the tower. The gown you noticed earlier does indeed belong to the Princess but has been brought down for mending. You obtain helpful descriptions of the room above and swear the girl to secrecy, then leave the same way you came in. The door hinges prove to be rather stiff, but she helps you get it closed. Back in the secret passage you go up the flight of steps. Turn to 72. 270 You pour the contents of the tiny potion bottle between her lips, and the Princess swallows convulsively. Then her eyelids flutter as consciousness returns. If you hold your hand over her mouth and are ready to explain your presence, and the mission which brought you here, turn to 334. Should you wish to do anything else, turn to 356. 271 The Wyvern becomes motionless again, and you start to descend the spiral steps. Turn to 35. 272 You stand by a green door, at the end of a forty feet long passage leading to a flight of steps going up. If you face the end wall of the passage, the green door

A lever projects from the wall

273-275 is on your left, and a small lever projects from the wall immediately in front of you. When you originally arrived here, the lever pointed downwards. You will find it can easily be moved to point up or down. If you leave this end of the passage to climb the steps, turn to 224. If you open the green door and step through, turn to 256 if you have left the lever pointing up, and 302 if you have left it pointing down. 273 'Very well' replies Becky. 'If I can't have him, you're not going to help HER.' And with that she throws back her head and emits a piercing scream. Turn to 152.

274 In order to smash the sheet of glass, you will have to strike it in the centre with one of your weapons. Calculate E + 4H and you will need a score of 16 to succeed. You may only attempt this once, but may increase your score by 1 Point for every Fortune Point you delete from your Character Sheet. If you succeed, turn to 43. Should you fail, you stand rooted to the spot and must turn to 107. 275 Hastily you back out of the room into the corridor, to the derisive barking laughter of the Greater Hobgoblins.

276-277 Perhaps they had already eaten this evening, for they make no attempt to halt you. The men-at-arms, on the other hand, draw their swords and surround you at once. They take no notice of any excuses you try to make for your presence, but demand that you accompany them. If you obey, turn to 259. If you prefer to fight, turn to 396. 276 The red Wyvern is not only a formidable opponent, it is also extremely fast and will always move to cut off any escape from this area. Once released from the spell which prevented it attacking, it will continue to engage you in combat until one of you is dead. It has an Expertise of 14, Vitality 15 and will do 3 Points of Damage with fangs and claws if it hits you. in addition, it can breath fire on you for a further 5 Points of Damage in each and every round of combat. Fortunately it is not very intelligent, and can often forget to do this. You will need to sacrifice 1 Fortune Point in every round to ensure that it does, however. If the combat results in your death, turn to 333. If you manage to kill the Wyvern, you may pause to drink a Potion of Healing, if you wish, and should also add 5 Fortune Points to your Character Sheet and increase your Expertise by 1 Point. You may then leave by the spiral staircase, turning to 35. 277 When you reach this new passage, you find that it has

280-282

278-279 been polished to a glassy smooth surface, presumably by the passage of Giant Slugs over the years, and is coated with a silvery trail which is quite slippery in itself.

280

If, nonetheless, you decide to take this route, turn to 298.

You open the door to find a wide corridor on the other side, running to left and right, and lit by occasional flaring torches in wall sconces. Other doors can be seen along its length, and a very long way to the left it enters a lofty hall, where you can just make out a group of men-at-arms. To the right, the corridor enters a circular area after a little under one hundred feet and you can see several doors and a wide flight of carpetted stairs leading upwards.

Should you prefer to go back through the cave to the surface, turn to 309 if the Giant Slug is still alive, or 330 if you killed it.

If you shut the door and go back to your secret passage, closing the black-painted secret door after you, turn to 301.

The passage slopes downwards at a steeper angle than the smaller one down which you arrived, and you are sure that any attempt to negotiate it would result in an uncontrolled slide.

278 You feel no effects as you walk quickly across the pentagram and open the red door. Stepping through, you find yourself in another, but much larger, circular room. Turn to 5.

279 As soon as you turn the spray of spores on to the other flowerbed, the effect is dramatic. The yellowish green foliage withers, the creepers and stalks sag limply to the earth, and the mauve snapdragons fade and wilt. You use the rest of the drum on these plants, and kill about half of them. Returning through the brown door, you discard the apparatus. If you now wish to climb the stairs, turn to 19, and write on your Character Sheet 'Plants C'. Should you be on your way out, turn to 375.

Should you leave the workroom and go out into the wide corridor, turn to 296 if you move in the direction of the hall, or 312 if you go the other way.

281 You open the ebony box, expecting to find the princess's jewels within, and in fact it contains a magnificent, gem-encrusted tiara. If you lift this out, turn to 377. Should you close the lid, and remove the ebony box from the chest, turn to 265. If you close the lids of both the box and the chest in which it lies, turn to 202.

282 As soon as you move the skeletal hand, whether to open the desk lid or to remove the ring, there is a flash of light and a powerful looking warrior appears beside

283-284 you. Your flesh crawls uneasily as you notice immediately that he has no face. Turn to 325.

283 When you open the door, the golden chain breaks in two. The other end is fixed to a harness about the shoulders of a red Wyvern, which stands in a glowing pentagram on the floor immediately on the other side of the door. The room is circular, with a spiral staircase descending from the centre of the floor. As you opened the door, the Wyvern was standing motionless. The tiny sound of the chain tinkling to the floor seems to release it from a spell and it promptly attacks you. Turn to 276.

284 The rock is extremely hard and you have to strike powerfully, holding the hilt of your sword in both hands to chip away even small fragments. After an hour or so you have cleared a hole about one inch deep around one bar. Then your sword wedges at an awkward angle, the force of your blow is deflected sideways, and the trusty blade snaps in two. The sword is now useless and must be deleted from your Character Sheet. You are weaponless. If you now wish to call the guards, turn to 316. Should you settle down to see if they come to feed the prisoners, turn to 386. If you have not previously communicated with the occupant of the cell opposite, you can do so now and should turn to 142 if you do.

A powerful, faceless warrior appears

287

285-286 285

The door opens easily and smoothly, and you step through silently onto a deep carpet. The room is beautifully furnished in blue and gold, with many mirrors on the walls. One, in fact, concealed the door through which you entered. A crystal chandelier hangs from the centre of the ceiling with most of its candles extinguished for the night. A few have been left to burn so that the room is dimly illuminated. Your secret door is in the centre of the long, curved wall, which gives the room its semi-circular shape. Opposite, there is an ordinary door in the centre of a long, straight wall. There are four curtained windows spaced evenly around the curved wall, but none in the straight one. To the right of the door opposite stands a four-poster bed with filmy curtains concealing its interior. If you move across to pull the curtains aside, turn to 344. Should you prefer to search the room first, turn to 202.

286 By the time the Princess regains her senses, you have a gag in her mouth and her hands tied securely behind her. For the moment you do not bind her ankles, as you cannot face the thought of having to carry her through the secret passages within the crag. (Indeed, it is possible that you have an alternative route of escape.) Once she realises the indignity of her position, the Princess kicks out furiously at you, and you are forced to give her a warning slap. You explain that the way

out is difficult and sometimes dangerous, and that if she does not co-operate she will be placing herself in as much peril as you. As it is, the need to watch out for her will make many of your tasks more difficult, and to reflect this your Expertise is reduced by 1 Point. From now on, unless the situation calls for combat, the word 'you' will apply to both of you (or, if you are also accompanied by the maidservant Becky, to all three of you). If you now propel the Princess into the secret passage and shut the gold-painted door behind you, you should take up your lantern and turn to 387. Should you have '250 ft. of rope' on your Character Sheet, and wish to use it now, turn to 388.

287 Killing the Giant Slug will take quite some time as it has a Vitality of 40! It has no Expertise as such, but will spit at you in each round of combat. Now you are closer, you will have to calculate E — 3T and achieve a score of 12 or more to dodge the spittle: any lower score and you will be hit for 4 Points of Damage from the burning slime. The creature is quite slow and you can break off the combat at any time. However, if you do you WILL take 4 Points of Damage, being unable to dodge while looking for the exit. If you kill the Giant Slug, turn to 319. If it kills you, turn to 333. Should you break off combat to retreat up the narrower passage down which you came, turn to 250. And should you do so to take the wider passage used

291-292

288-290 by your opponent, turn to 239. (If taking either of the latter two options, do not forget the final 4 Damage Points.) 288 What happens next depends to some extent on the position in which you left the small lever in the passage outside. If you left it pointing up, the room is lit only by your lantern, you cannot see the far end, and you should turn to 143. If you left it pointing down, turn to 320 if you step onto the square next-but-one to the wall on either side, or 326 if you choose any of the other six squares in the row nearest to you. 289 Once back in the secret passage with the door shut, you can no longer hear, let alone see what happens in the workroom. If you wish to make your way back to the top of the flight of steps, turn to 301. Should you prefer to wait here for a while, then open the secret door again, turn to 305. 290 In the light of your lantern you examine your new surroundings which are depressing, to say the least. You seem to be in some sort of dungeon. The room is the same size as the one you left so precipitately, thirty feet square and ten feet high, and again has only one apparent exit in the centre of one wall. This time, however, that is blocked by a grille of stout metal bars. Instead of pictures on the walls, there are a few rusty

chains and manacles, several green slimy patches where a sickly green moss is trying to grow, and a few scratched messages, mainly of a defeatist nature, from a previous inhabitant named Kilroy. Turn to 258. 291 The Greater Hobgoblins spread out to either side, probably intending to stop any movement towards the door, then attack. Each has Expertise 13, Vitality 11 and can do 3 Points of Damage if it hits you. As the room is rather cluttered with piles of straw, articles of furniture and bundles of equipment, the combat is rather confused. Before calculating E+ 4H for yourself and one opponent in each round, toss one coin to see which one you find yourself fighting, until and unless you manage to kill one of them, when you can continue against the survivor. If you manage to kill both, turn to 307. Should they kill you, turn to 333. 292 This area looks rather different from the others you have found within the castle crag. It seems to be a natural cave with an uneven floor and rough walls. Although the roof is no more than twenty feet above you, the cave seems to stretch quite a long way ahead and to your right, sloping gradually away from you, while on your left the wall of the cave is very damp, with small trickles of running water here and there. All the available floor space, and the lower parts of the walls, are covered with various fungi. There are large toadstools in shades of purple and red, and low,

293-294 spreading growths of green and yellow which are slightly phosphorescent. Opening the door has crushed the growths in a small area, and you are now standing knee deep amongst the unpleasant-looking things. If you wish to explore further, turn to 304. Should you prefer to go back through the silver door into the passage, turn to 30. 293 The chain must have had a weak link somewhere, for as soon as you put much pressure on it, it snaps at the top and you are left with a small length in your hand. There is a faint rattle as the top end disappears through a small hole in the door, but nothing else happens. You are sure this is the way down and you have no choice but to open the door. Turn to 303. 294

The floor is covered with fungi

When you kill your opponent, he collapses on the floor. Then his body and equipment become insubstantial, misty and, within moments, have disappeared. If you clutch at the axe, your fingers go straight through it. You may add 2 Fortune Points to your Character Sheet for this success, and take a Potion if you wish. When the appearance of the faceless warrior disturbed you, you let the skeletal hand fall back on the desk, still wearing its ring. If you now wish to try to remove the ring, turn to 282. Should you prefer to open the desk, turn to 267. If you decide to leave the worn by the yellow door, turn to 129.

295-297 295 You continue to cover the flowerbed with the yellowish-green plants until you feel the drum of spores is about half-empty. By a strange coincidence, about half the expanse of plants has been affected by that time. Turning your attention to the other side of the room, where the plants have dark green foliage, you exhaust the rest of the spores on them with no noticeable effect. You then go back through the brown door and toss the apparatus aside. If you now wish to climb the stairs, turn to 19, and mark your Character Sheet 'Plants C'. Should you be on your way out, turn to 375. 296 Stepping as quietly as possible, you move along the corridor in the direction of the distant hall. You have not gone far, and are in fact passing the next door on the left, when you hear an outcry behind you. A squad of men-at-arms has come silently down the carpeted stairs, and spotted you as an intruder. The others in the distant hall turn and hasten towards you. If you stand to face them in the wide corridor, turn to 396. If you dart into the room on your left, turn to 321. Should you try to get back to the workroom and the secret passage, turn to 328.

297 These are in fact the Margrave's personal bodyguards, and just about the best fighters the castle can muster. They are trained to fight as a team, and one will try to catch your legs with the razor-sharp hook of his weapon

298-299 while the other chops at your head. Each has Expertise 14, Vitality 13 and does 4 Points of Damage if he hits. In each round of Combat you will have to calculate E + 4H for each of them and for yourself. If you only hit one of them you may decide which. If you kill one, you may snatch up his halberd to use on the other.(It does 4 Points of Damage.) While the combat rages, the maidservant runs screaming to the stairs, and you hear the sound of bolts shooting home as the Margrave prudently secures his door. Reinforcements will arrive after ten rounds of combat. If you are still fighting after ten rounds, turn to 391. Should you manage to kill both your opponents by then, turn to 238. If they kill you, turn to 333. 298 After the first few steps, your feet lose all traction on the smooth, sloping floor and you slide faster and faster into the bowels of the earth. You lower yourself into a squatting position to try to retain some semblance of control, and protect your lantern as best you can. The rock walls slide past in a blur for some hundreds of yards before you emerge into a wide area where there are several more of the Giant Slugs. You have little time for sight-seeing before your speed carries you on, across what is actually a wide ledge above a chasm, at the bottom of which is an underground river. And there, this attempt to reach the castle ends. Turn to 333. 299 If you offer the end of the fine golden chain to the

300-302

Wyvern it will accept it with one mighty clawed fist. It then adopts the pose in which you first saw it, becomes rigid, and its eyes glaze. Turn to 32, bearing in mind that one Wyvern is no longer in its pentagram. 300 You step through the opening into the room with pictures on the walls, experiencing no difficulties or obstructions. However, if you turn to look back, you find that the opening is now obscured by what looks like a glass screen, with nothing but swirling smoke or fog visible through it. Turn to 242. 301

You make your way back along the narrow secret passage from the black-painted section of wall, around the curving part which you are sure must be one of the main towers, until you come to the top of the stairs again. If you descend, turn to 343. Should you wish to continue along the curving passage in the other direction, turn to 26. 302 Immediately the door shuts, several panels in the ceiling flicker with illumination as if a very bright lantern were guttering in a high wind on the other side. After a few seconds they settle down to glow with a steady light, and you are able to study the room. The walls and ceiling have been smoothed so well that you might be in a well-built hall. The room is eighty feet wide, one hundred feet long and about thirty feet

The floor consists of metallic squares

305-306

303-304 high. Apart from a clear ten feet wide strip at each end, the rest of the floor consists of metallic looking squares ten feet by ten feet, alternately red and yellow, to present an eight by eight chequered pattern. Almost all the squares are stained, some more badly than others, though those nearest the ends seem less marked. In the centre of each of the end walls is a door, one blue and the other green. Above the doors, two small balconies jut out from the walls, some twenty feet from the floor, and reached by ladders on either side. Above the balcony some words are carved in the stone. 'Let evil betide him who follows not the knightly path.' If you leave by the door through which you entered, turn to 272 if this was green, or 96 if it was blue.

unpleasant odour reaches your nostrils from the crushed vegetation. Soon, the light of your lantern picks out the wall opposite, and you turn more towards your right to move roughly down the centre of what turns out to be a long cave, perhaps seventy feet wide. The walls are all similarly damp, with occasional trickles of running water, but the only door or opening you have seen is the one through which you entered. Ahead, perhaps two hundred feet from the entrance, the floor seems to drop away. If you walk towards the edge to look over, turn to 315. If you decide to return through the silver door, turn to 30.

If you climb to the balcony turn to 230. Should you wish to cross the chequered floor, turn to 262. If you take a ladder with you, add it to your equipment list. 303 As soon as you open the door, you are attacked by a red Wyvern, which was standing immediately outside. Beyond it, you are just able to make out a large, circular room, with a spiral staircase descending from the centre of the floor. Now turn to 276. 304

You move further into the cave, away from the silver door, breaking and treading the fungi underfoot as you go, and leaving a clear trail behind you. A slight but not

305 After some time, you open the secret door again. All is quiet in the workroom, and everything seems as you left it. You enter and cross to the bench again for another look at the book. Turn to 264. 306 To stop the chair and break free, calculate E - 3T. To succeed you will need a score of 11 or more, but you can add 1 Point to your score for every Fortune Point you delete from your Character Sheet. If you succeed, turn to 155. Should you fail, the chair overcomes your resistance, and spins you round a little faster. Turn to 197.

307-309

310-312 307

Having managed to overcome both these powerful opponents you may add 4 Fortune Points to your Character Sheet, and increase your Expertise by 1 Point for the remainder of the adventure. If you wish, you may pause to drink a Potion of Healing if you still have one. Amend your Character Sheet appropriately. Perhaps a minute after the last Greater Hobgoblin expires, you hear a loud knock on the door. If you open it, turn to 323.

310 You may have been doing one of two things when the faceless warrior appeared. In either case, you take an immediate 3 Points of Damage when you neglect to defend yourself from its attack. Then . . . If you continue trying to remove the ring, turn to 251. Should you prefer to open the desk, turn to 267. If the 3 Points of Damage killed you, turn to 333.

If you prefer not to, turn to 339. 308 Unfortunately you have exhausted the supply of spores contained in the device with the metal drum, by puffing them all over the dark green plant with the red flowers. As this was the very plant that produced the spores, it is hardly surprising that this action had no effect whatsoever. Turn to 22. 309 You decide, after all, not to leave by the passage through which the Giant Slug entered the cave. This means, of course, that you have to face it again. If you decide to fight it, turn to 287. Should you decide merely to run across the cave to the other passage, which leads to the surface, you will be unable to avoid another gobbet of the burning slime, and will take 4 Points of Damage. Amend your Character Sheet, then . . . If this kills you, turn to 333. Should you survive, turn to 250.

311 You retreat into the secret passage and just manage to pull the door shut before the other door to the room bursts open and five guards rush in, swords drawn. There is a small hole in the white painted door, and you peer through to see what happens. The girl in the bed is telling the guards about an awful monster that leapt screeching into her room, and it is plain that the guards don't believe her. They conduct a desultory search then leave with many a curse and scornful glance at the bed, where the occupant is now snivelling quietly. If you wait before opening the secret door again, turn to 327. Should you decide to leave this secret door, turn to 72 if you climb the steps to your right, or 74 if you go back around the narrow curving passage to the left. 312 Stepping as quietly as possible along the bare stone flags of the passage, you move towards the point where it ends near a carpetted flight of stairs. Just as you are

313-315 passing a door on your left, you see the booted legs of a squad of men-at-arms coming down the staircase. If you continue towards them, turn to 337. If you dart through the door on your left, turn to 342. Should you try to get back workroom, turn to 353.

to the limner's

313 Fortunately, Belfont has removed the ring tonight, so you are not affected. You decide you could find room for this obviously valuable item in your paperpack, and may stow it away. Mark your Character Sheet 'Tiara' if you do. If not, you leave it where it is and close the box. There is nothing else in the chest, so you close that also. Turn to 202. 314

The Margrave is a man of his word, as you would have discovered had you told him the whole story. You are promptly led to the gallows, the rope placed around your neck and, with no protracted ceremonies, are quickly despatched. Turn to 333. 315 As you approach the edge of what you realise must be a substantial drop, you are still unable to see the end wall within the range of your lantern-light. You do, however, notice that the toadstools are thinner here, and you can actually see bare patches of floor. Some of the toadstools seems to have been partly eaten away, and you nearly trip over the skeleton of some sort of animal, about two feet long.

A squad of men-at-arms is descending

316-319 If you pause to taste a piece of toadstool for yourself, turn to 331. If you press on to see what lies below, turn to 352. 316 Eventually, the guards become aware of the din you are creating. The light increases at the end of the passage, and several burly forms approach. Soon they are grouped outside the bars of your cell staring in at you with amazement. Turn to 322. 317 With or without the maid Becky, you return to the secret passage behind the white-painted door. The hinges prove very stiff, and you need her assistance to get the door shut, whether she is pulling beside you or pushing from inside the room. If she is with you, from now on the word 'you' will apply to the pair of you. Turning to the flight of steps, you start to climb. Turn to 72. 318 The Princess proves unexpectedly skilful with her slim-bladed dagger and manages to stab you before you can render her unconscious. Worse still, the blade is smeared with a deadly poison. Your muscles contract agonisingly, and you crash to the floor. Turn to 333. 319 Somehow you have managed to hack the Giant Slug to death, covering yourself and, indeed, the whole cave with an unpleasant coating of slime and gore in the process. In the long-drawn-out melee the two eggs

320-321 became broken and added their contents to the general mess. You may add 4 Fortune Points to your Character Sheet for your success and pause here to take a Potion if you wish. Then . .. If you wish to investigate the passage from which the Giant Slug emerged, turn to 277. Should you prefer to head back to the surface, turn to 250. 320 Immediately you step onto the metallic square a mighty surge of power vaporises you, leaving a rather unpleasant smell and a nasty mark on the metal. The long-dead rulers of the castle did not intend any mottoes carved in stone to serve as clues to clandestine invaders. Turn to 333. 321 Throwing open the door, you rush into the room beyond, which had been in darkness until you entered with your lantern. It is about the same size as the limner's workroom, and seems to be used as part workshop and part storeroom. There are chairs with broken legs, a table freshly varnished, and several workbenches and cupboards. Apart from the door through which you entered, the only way out is offered by a deeply-recessed window in the opposite wall. The running footsteps of the guards are close at hand. If you go back out into the corridor, turn to 396. If you try to barricade the door, turn to 369. Should you prefer to cross the room and dive through the glass of the closed window turn to 217.

322-324 322

Only one of the group is Human - a villainous-looking lout with a black patch over one eye, and wearing a stout leather jacket covered with iron rings. The four with him are Hobgoblins! (It seems Prince Elrindell's information was out of date: some of the Margrave's allies are here already.) Two Hobgoblins hold torches and swords, another a long whip and a dagger, while the last holds a small crossbow. 'Where did you come from?' asks the man. If you explain your mission, turn to 220. Should you invent some tale, perhaps claiming to be exploring the castle and to have accidentally locked yourself in, turn to 380. 323 When you open the door, you find the corridor packed with armed men. They seem a little surprised at seeing you. It would appear that the fight, which took some time, was noisy enough to attract considerable attention. Whatever explanation you may attempt to offer, they are not about to let you pass. They demand that you accompany them, and you either do that, or fight some two dozen experienced-looking soldiers. If you fight, turn to 396. If you surrender, 259. 324 When you came this way earlier, you shared the spores from the metal drum equally between the two plants. Although this had no effect on the dark green plant

The jailers

325-327 with the red flowers, it laid to waste a good half of its deadly enemy in the other flowerbed. Thanks to your assistance, the darker plant has now gained the ascendancy. Although the battle still rages across the gangway down the centre of the room, there is now a broad, clear area between the wall on the left and the rear of the yellowish-green bank of plants with the mauve snapdragon flowers. It seems to have massed all its forces at the front of the bed. You are therefore able to cross near the wall in complete safety, and reach the blue door. You step through the door and should turn to 64.

328-330 you open the white-painted door again, by pressing the recessed block of stone.

Turn to 79. 328

You manage to reach the workroom door a few yards before the group of five patrolling men-at-arms who are rushing towards you. Stepping through, you slam the door in their faces and race for the opening into the secret passage. As you reach it the door bursts open and the men-at-arms tumble into the room. You try to drag the heavy door shut before they can stop you. If you delete 1 Fortune Point from your Character Sheet you will manage it and should turn to 365.

325 The faceless warrior attacks with an Expertise of 12, Vitality 10 and does 3 Points of Damage if he hits you with his double-bladed axe.

If you do not, the men-at-arms stop you shutting the door, and you have to fight. In this case turn to 396.

If you ignore it, and concentrate on the task in hand, turn to 310.

329 You manage to leap back into the dimly-lit bedroom and slam the door as the two men-at-arms come running across the landing. A piercing female scream from outside seems certain to wake the whole castle, and is sure to bring reinforcements very shortly. To your dismay, there is no way to lock, bolt or bar the door, and you try to hold it shut by sheer strength as the guards heave at it from the other side.

If you fight, and the combat results in your death, turn to 333. Should you triumph, turn to 294. 326 As soon as you set foot on the metallic square a mighty surge of power vaporises you completely, apart from a rather unpleasant smell and a nasty mark on the metal. Please turn to 333. 327 Patiently you wait in the narrow, secret passage until all is quiet and still in the bedroom once more. Then

Turn to 366. 330

You pick your way back across the awful mess in the cave, and take the passage back to the surface, trying to wipe away the worst signs of the encounter from your flesh and clothing. Turn to 250, ignoring the first sentence.

331-333 331 The toadstool tastes absolutely wonderful, and you eagerly grab another handful, which feels rather like the lightest fluffiest pastry, but tastes like perfectly seasoned venison. In fact, you would far rather sit here eating the delicious food than continue your quest since it is highly addictive. If you sacrifice 2 Fortune Points by deleting them from your Character Sheet, you will have the strength of will to keep going, and may turn to 352. If not, you will stay here until you die of starvation, as the toadstools have no real nutritional value. Turn to 333. 332 After a long march along echoing corridors, up flights of stairs and through luxuriously furnished rooms, you are led into a spacious apartment looking out on to a terrace. Beyond the battlements you see a magnificent view over the plain and in the distance the woods where your cavalry escort should still be waiting. Rather more disconcerting are the gallows which have been erected on the terrace just outside the large windows. 'Bow to the Margrave!' orders the leader of the guards and, with the help of an elbow in the stomach, you are forced to incline your head to the stout figure in a velvet doublet standing to the right of the window. You assume(correctly) that the other, rascally-looking fellow facing you is the notorious Belfont. Turn to 335. 333

If you are reading this, it can only be because your

The apartment looks on to a terrace

336-337

334-335 character has found one of the many ways of dying included in this book. Never mind. You can always amend your Character Sheet and start again at the beginning with a new character, who may at least have the advantage of knowing where any predecessor(s) went wrong. Better luck next time! 334 As Princess Wanda regains her senses, you lean forward to explain your presence, keeping one hand over her mouth ready to stifle any immediate outcry. There turns out to be no need for this precaution. As soon as she opens her eyes and sees you bending over her, the light of love dawns in her eyes. With a sinking heart you realize that you had forgotten Prince Elrindell's instructions about the miniature of Duke Rupert, and that the Princess is still in love with the wrong person. If you manage to get her back to her family you are going to have some awkward explanations to make, and can only hope the court physician has another 'antidote' handy. The Princess is, of course, delighted now at the thought of being taken away from this horrid place and has no qualms about undertaking a difficult journey in her night-clothes. If you have '250 ft of rope' entered on your Character Sheet, and wish to use it now, turn to 388. If not, you usher the Princess into the secret passage close the gold-painted door behind you and take up your lantern. Then turn to 387. 335 The Margrave smiles thinly at you. 'I am a busy man

he declares, 'so I shall make this short. Tell us exactly why you are here, how you got in, what you hoped to achieve and who sent you. If you tell the entire truth, omitting nothing, we shall let you go. Otherwise you will be adorning the gallows there immediately.' If you tell him the whole story, turn to 347. Should you refuse, turn to 314. 336 Although you managed to evade the strange, threelegged monster when you passed this way before, it seems to be waiting for you this time, standing to one side of the largest tank, and waving its stumpy arm in a rather intimidating fashion. Should you have company on this return journey, you ire sure you would not be able to get everyone down the ladder, across the floor and through the door without being caught. If you decide you will have to go down first and try to kill it, turn to 357. (Any reduction in your Expertise imposed by having companions to look after will not apply for this combat.) Should you prefer to stay where you are for a while, perhaps in the hope it may become bored, turn to 367. 337 YOU continue towards the squad of men-at-arms, who come down the steps and march along the corridor towards you. It may be that you hope to convince them that you have every right to be there, but the Margrave's men have been disciplined to the point of terror of making a mistake, and even the greatest air of confidence is of little assistance when you are covered with dust and cobwebs. They surround you and order you to accompany them.

338-339 If you go along, turn to 259. Should you try to fight your way clear, turn to 396.

340-341 Should you decide to try to fight your way clear, through the massed ranks, turn to 396.

338 You move over to the winch, and find that a rusty, metal lever has been set against the wooden teeth at one end of the winch drum, so that the weight of the ladder does not cause the winch to revolve. Leaning against the winch handle, you disengage the lever with a hefty kick, and slowly lower the ladder down the shaft.

340 Having freed the end of the chain, you slowly open the large red door to reveal a circular room. There is a spiral staircase descending from the centre of the floor. As you no doubt expected, there is a red Wyvern crouched on its haunches, back towards you, in a pentagram drawn on the floor right outside the door.

When the top of the ladder is level with the floor, you put the retaining lever back in place, and move over to the hole in the floor.

There is a faint rattle as the action of opening the door causes the chain, which leads to a harness round the Wyvern's shoulders, to be drawn through the hollow hook on the door's other side.

Looking down, you can see that the bottom of the ladder hangs several feet above a large tank full of foul-smelling slime. There is a clear stretch of floor to one side, and the lower, hinged section of the ladder looks as though it would reach it if swung down. You decide to climb down to attempt this. Turn to 346. 339 Deciding that whoever is knocking on the door is unlikely to be pleased to see you, you look hastily around for an alternative way out. Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be one. Before you can start tapping at the walls to search for secret panels, the door opens, and you see that the corridor outside is crowded with armed men. They seem a little surprised that one adventurer could overcome two Greater Hobgoblins, but nonetheless order you to surrender. If you obey, turn to 259.

If you stand still where you are, turn to 363. If you step into the pentagram to take the end of the chain as it emerges from the door, turn to 261. 341 As you spread the entire contents of the metal drum all over the yellowish-green plant with the mauve flowers, you succeeded in killing it off completely. This enabled the dark green plant with the red flowers to finally take over the second flowerbed, after untold years of effort, and it now flourishes triumphantly in both beds. The gap between the flowerbeds is still rather obstructed, but this time there is little movement and certainly no combat going on. If you wish to move directly towards the blue door, down the centre of the room, turn to 229. Should you prefer to cross one or other of the packed flowerbeds, turn to 333.

342-343 342

In an attempt to escape the notice of the approaching squad of men-at-arms, you open the nearest door on the left and dive in, closing it behind you. You then look around the room, which had been in darkness before you brought in your lantern. Staring at you, with as much surprise as you now feel, are two humanoids which you recognize as Greater Hobgoblins. Some of the Margrave's allies have obviously arrived earlier than expected. These creatures are rather more intelligent and powerful than the common Hobgoblins, whom they usually control, while sharing with them and many other humanoids a liking for human flesh. They look at each other, then back at you, and slowly get to their feet as the footsteps of the squad pass outside the door. If you prefer to take your chances with the men-at-arms, turn to 275. Should you decide to stay in here, turn to 291.

343 Lighting the way with your lantern, you descend the narrow flight of steps to a short passage which ends at a very small door, no more than four feet high. Crouching, you step through the doorway into a twenty feet square room. There is a much larger door, painted red, in the centre of the opposite wall. What happens next depends on how you got on with the Wyverns when you passed this way earlier on your upward journey. If you fed the golden chain through the hollow hook, turn to 356. Two Greater Hobgoblins rise to their feet

If you did not, then turn to 373.

347-348

344-346 344

You move to the four-poster and pull the nearest curtain gently aside, expecting to find a sleeping young woman within. Instead, you are promptly attacked. The Deltan royal family are no strangers to danger. They have ruled for centuries despite intrigue, betrayal and countless assassination attempts, and the ability to sense danger, even in their sleep, has been bred into them. Only by trickery had the Margrave been able to convert the Princess to his cause and, although bewitched by the potion, her instincts are unimpaired. Never without her slim-bladed dagger, she now strikes at you with the benefit of SURPRISE. Turn to 361. 345

As you leap through the door on to the landing, the guards opposite come to life and start raising their formidable weapons. There is the clatter of an overturned stool as a maidservant, sitting unnoticed to one side of the bedroom door, starts to her feet with the beginnings of a scream. You realize she will give the alarm and probably bring whole squads of soldiers on the run. If you ignore her and fight the guards, turn to 297. Should you decide to try to get back into the bedroom you have just left, turn to 329. 346 You climb down the metal ladder, passing first of all through some twenty feet of rock, and emerge into a brightly-lit room. Apart from the large tank of evil-smelling slime, directly below you, there are two small tanks at opposite ends of the room, one apparently full of water and the other empty apart from a small damp patch in the centre.

What else you see depends on how you got through this room on your way up. If you managed to kill the large, three-legged monster, turn to 362. If not, then turn to 336. 347 You decide that you owe no-one such loyalty as to voluntarily walk to the gallows, and tell your captors the whole story. The Margrave carefully notes the details of your passage through the secret ways below the castle, and any unused potions are produced and examined. Orders are passed for a body of troops to surround the woods and slaughter your escort and, when you have finished you are taken out to the terrace to watch, with your captors. When the distant action has ended, the Margrave turns to you and smiles again. 'Excellent! And now we shall keep our promise to let you go.' He gives a signal, the guards pick you up by arms and legs, carry you to the edge of the terrace, and let you go over the battlements. From this point there is a sheer drop of nearly three hundred feet. Turn to 333. 348 Unfortunately the Hobgoblins seem to have little sense of racial fidelity, or perhaps those outside have some reason to dislike your victim. Either way they have little sympathy with its plight. The door is swiftly locked, and the archer with the crossbow starts shooting with a fine disregard for whom he hits. You must first overcome your new cell-mate who, though weaponless, has a fine set of teeth and a keen desire to use them. It has an Expertise of only 9,

349

350-351

without a weapon, Vitality of 7 and can do 1 Point of Damage with its teeth. For the first round of Combat you have the benefit of SURPRISE, as outlined in the Game System. In each round, however, the archer outside will loose off a crossbow bolt, which can do 2 Points of Damage. If you sacrifice a Fortune Point each time, the bolt will hit your opponent; otherwise it will hit you. If the combat results in your death, turn to 333. Should you emerge victorious, this will mean that the Hobgoblin in the cell with you is dead (as it will not surrender) and you should turn to 252.

349

When you open the brown door you find a large room, brilliantly lit by glowing panels set in the ceiling. In the centre of the opposite wall, a hundred feet away, is a blue door. Leading to it is a twenty feet wide space between two flowerbeds. Just what is in the flowerbeds depends on what actions you took when you passed this way before. If you used a device to puff spores all over the plant with the mauve flowers, you should have 'Plants A' entered on your Character Sheet. In this case turn to 341. If you used it all on the one with red flowers, you should have 'Plants B' marked, and should turn to 308. If you shared it equally between them and have 'Plants C on the Character Sheet, then turn to 324. Should you not have used the device at all, turn to 22.

350

Remembering Prince Elrindell's instructions, you hold the miniature of the young Duke before the Princess's eyes as she regains her senses. Her gaze is captured by it and with a smile she sighs 'Oh, Rupert!' Satisfied that her affections have been returned where they belong, you now explain that you have come to return her to her fiance in time for the wedding. She is only too pleased to come with you, and appears not the slightest bit concerned at attempting a hazardous journey in her night attire. From now on, the word 'you' will apply to both of you (unless there is a maidservant already in the party, in which case it will apply to all three) except in cases where you are involved in combat. If you have '250 ft. of rope' entered on your Character Sheet, and wish to use it now, turn to 388. Otherwise, you return to the secret passage, close the gold-painted door behind you, take up your lantern and turn to 387. 351 When you release the chain, the Wyvern stumbles back in surprise, and the end of the chain tinkles against the top of the steps. Immediately, the Wyvern bellows in rage and attacks. You scuttle desperately down the stairs and it is unable to follow you far enough to attack with its fangs and claws. It can, however, use its breath weapon! Fortunately, it is not particularly intelligent and may, in its rage, forget. If you delete 2 Fortune Points from your Character Sheet it will forget to breathe on you, and you will be able to escape, turning to 35.

352-353 Should you be unable, or unwilling, to delete the 2 Fortune Points, it will breathe fire on you just before you can escape around the first bend. In this case, turn to 383. 352 Reaching the edge of the higher part of the cave, you look down on a strange scene. The ground falls away down a steep slope of loose rock and boulders into a pool which fills the lower part of the cave from side to side, about fifty feet below. Scattered here and there across the pool are about a dozen large flowers, supported two or three feet above the surface on thick spiky stems. The flowers have broad petals some three feet long, mainly sickly white in colour, but tipped with bright scarlet. The yellow and green fungi cover the walls for up to twenty feet above the surface of the pool, making the area almost light enough for you not to need your lantern. In the dim light you can just make out the far wall, well over a hundred feet away, with a small dark patch near the base, which may indicate the opening of a small passage. As you watch, something splashes into the water there. Turn to 372. 353 Turning, you run back to the workroom. As you reach the door there is an outcry behind you. This is heard by the other guards in the distant hall, and groups of armed men are now closing in on you from both ends of the corridor.

The flowers in the pool

354-355 If you stay to fight them out here, turn to 396. If you rush through the workroom to the secret passage, turn to 360. 354

You seem to have avoided notice so far, here in the garden, and refrain from lighting a lantern for the return journey in the hope of preserving this state of affairs. Nonetheless you make good progress and soon find yourself back at the fence. Climbing this, you cross the road and approach the woods. As you enter the trees, several figures materialise around you, and your arms are seized firmly. Hastily you identify yourself. 'You are alone,' declares a voice accusingly. 'You have failed,' growls another. 'I'm afraid that means Plan B,' sighs a third. You start to explain, but get no further than the first few words when you feel an agonising pain below the left ribs. Turn to 333. 355

While you are searching through the cupboards, you hear the sound of axes being used on the door. Rather to your surprise, they do not seem to be going for the door hinges but are seeking to make a hole at the bottom of the door. Meanwhile, you have made a find. In one cupboard are several coils of rope; enough, you feel, to reach the ground below. There is now a jagged hole, a few inches across, in the bottom of the door, and from the corridor comes a

356-358 wailing chant to the accompaniment of a discordant piping. If you decide to escape through the window, you start joining the coils of rope together. Should you prefer to stay in the room, you leave the rope where you find it. In either case, turn to 392. 356 As you approach the large, red-painted door, you notice a finely made golden chain dangling down the back of it. If you pull the chain, turn to 293. Should you loosen the chain at the bottom, where it seems to have caught on a small nail, turn to 340. If you ignore the golden chain and open the door, turn to 283. 357 Holding on to the ladder with one hand, you draw a weapon then push at the hinged section with one foot. With a protesting screech from the long-unoiled hinges, this section unfolds and falls out and down to land with a loud clang on the clear floor beside the tank. You scamper nimbly across to engage the monster as it lumbers clumsily towards you. Turn to 374. 358

When you drink the potion the room seems to darken about you, and for a few minutes you hover on the brink of unconsciousness. Then your senses clear, but you find that, try as you may, you cannot remember how you came to be here, or who is the distinguishedlooking man with you.

359-360 He reassures you that all is well, and says that you have rendered him a small service, in the course of which, unfortunately, you lost your memory. You are escorted to a comfortable hotel room, given a small purse of gold for your trouble, and left to your own devices. Puzzled, you decide you may as well return home on the morrow, and are rather disappointed not to have any exciting adventures to relate to your family and friends.

361-362 passage. You swing the black-painted door closed, and stand in the narrow space trying to recover your breath. It seems the guards do not know of the secret opening, or else do not know how to operate it, as nothing happens. The walls are too thick for you to hear what is going on in the workroom, but it would obviously be too risky to use that secret door again.

359 In answer to your question the young woman readily gives details of the castle and its occupants, together with what little she knows of the night-time patrols. Casually, you ask if she is looking forward to being reunited with her family and to your amazement she says she has none. With a sick feeling, you question her further to find that you have, in fact, given the Potion to the Princess's maid! The Princess herself sleeps in a much more palatial room upstairs. The maid's name is Becky, and she has at least helped you establish where the Princess really sleeps. You may decide to take her along in case she can be of further assistance, not least by identifying her mistress so that you do not make a similar mistake again. If the maid does accompany you, write the word 'Maid' beside 'Equipment' on your Character Sheet. Turn to 317.

361 You have not come all this way to kill the Princess as soon as you meet her, and cannot therefore defend yourself with your sword. Instead, you drop it and, fearful that she may raise the alarm, try to knock her unconscious. The Princess has an Expertise of 11; for the moment her other characteristics are not important. Calculate E + 4H for each of you in the normal way, except that she has the benefit of SURPRISE in the first round. As soon as you manage to hit her, turn to 254 UNLESS she hits you first, in which case turn to 318.

360 Slamming the corridor door behind, you dash across the workroom and throw yourself into the secret

Turn to 301.

362 You also see the body of the strange three-legged monster you killed here earlier, lying where you left it. Holding on carefully, as you have no wish to fall into the horrid mess immediately below, you push with one foot at the hinged part of the ladder. With a protesting screech from rusty hinges, this unfolds to bridge the tank, and you are able to clamber across onto the clear floor, with any companions. From there you make your

363-365 way out of the room, through the black door, into the passage beyond. Turn to 9. 363 The end of the gold chain emerges from the hollow hook on the door and falls to the floor with a faint tinkle. Immediately the red Wyvern comes to life and attacks you. Turn to 276. 364 When the one-eyed man returns he grunts noncommittally at the scene. He has several men-at-arms with him, in chainmail armour, some bearing halberds and others crossbows. You realise you would have no chance if you were to seek combat against such odds. The Hobgoblin with the key unlocks the door once more and you are ushered out. Then, surrounded by guards, you are relieved of your weapons and equipment and marched from the scene. Turn to 332. 365 With luck and effort you manage to shut the door before the men-at-arms can stop you. For a while you stand in the narrow passage getting your breath back. It seems the guards lack the knowledge of how to open the door from the other side, as you remain undisturbed. However, the alarm will obviously be raised; you dare not use this secret door again, and had better try to complete your mission without further delay, or abandon it. Turn to 301.

The hinged section bridges the tank

369

366-368 366 There is a movement at your side, and you become aware that the occupant of the bed has obviously left it in your brief absence. 'So, you dare to disturb the slumbers of your betters!' remarks a quiet voice and, as you turn to gaze at the object of your quest, she sinks a slim-bladed dagger between your ribs. Well-trained in the use of weapons from early childhood, she easily finds your heart and in any event the blade is poisoned. Turn to 333. 367 For what seems like an age, you wait on the ladder watching the strange creature below. Suddenly, there is a gurgling noise, and some more of the stinking sludge falls from a pipe in the ceiling to land in the tank below with a series of glutinous plops. The stench gets even worse. There is an immediate effect on the creature, however. It seems to lose all interest in you, stretches its arm over the tank, then plunges it into the mess and becomes motionless. Quickly, you push at the hinged section of with one foot. It unfolds to land on the floor tank and you are able to clamber across, companions, and make your way through door, unmolested.

the ladder beside the with any the black

Turn to 9. 368 You are taken deeper into the wood where the escort commander greets you and, by the light of a hooded

lantern, identifies Princes Wanda. He falls on one knee before her in thankful greeting. You arrange for her to be cared for and, while she is donning more suitable clothing, take the commander on one side to explain the rather difficult circumstances. He is appalled by what you tell him and, for a while, uncertain what to do. Obedience to a member of the royal family is automatic for him, and he dreads the idea of disobeying the Princess almost as much as he would Prince Elrindell. When you point out that any resentment of the Princess should be dispelled once another potion is administered, he relaxes a little but declares that, in the circumstances, he had better bind the pair of you and have you gagged and disguised when members of the public are nearby. If you agree to this, turn to 395. Should you refuse, turn to 390. 369 Hastily you close the door and try to drag one of the workbenches across to hold it shut. The bench proves extremely heavy, which could be a good thing if only you can get it into position in time. Calculate E + 4H — T: you will need a score of 15 to succeed, but may moderate your score by sacrificing Fortune Points on a one-for-one basis if necessary. Should you succeed, you will have the bench in place before the first burly shoulder hits the door from the other side. This will hold the guards long enough for you to stack other furniture against the door. In this case, turn to 376. If you fail, the guards will be in the room before you

370-372 can try anything else and you will have to fight. Turn to 385. 370 You are anxious not to betray your presence to any guards on the battlements above, especially when so near the end of your quest, and therefore refrain from lighting a lantern. Leaving the bulk of the castle crag behind you, you lead the way through the overgrown gardens until you run into the fence. Solicitously, you help any companions over this, cross the road, and eventually reach the slightly denser darkness of the wood, where you are challenged by a guard picket from your cavalry escort. If Princess Wanda is going willingly to her wedding with Duke Rupert, turn to 394. Should you have no Princess, but maidservant Becky, turn to 389.

only

the

If you have the Princess with you, but bound and gagged, turn to 379. Should Princess Wanda have accidentally become enamoured of YOU, turn to 368. 371 Although you defend yourself valiantly, too many poisonous snakes are sent into the room for you to deal with them all, and eventually one manages to bite you. The poison works quickly and you must turn to 333. 372 A V-shaped ripple appears on the surface of the pool as something comes swimming towards you. Then you notice the flowers are moving.

The plants dispute their victim

373

From the centre of each flower, two long spiky tentacle-like arms uncoil and reach across the pool towards the swimming creature, which veers from side to side as it tries to avoid them. The tentacles are at least fifteen feet long, however, and the flowers seem to be spaced to cover just about all the surface. There is a flurry in the water as tentacles from two different plants strike at the unfortunate swimmer. Its struggles quickly cease, and you wonder if the tentacles may have a poisonous effect. For a while they tug against each other in their efforts to secure the prize, and the flowers themselves are bent over almost to the surface of the pool. Then one succeeds in snatching its prey free, and you see the tentacles hold the body of a very large rat, which is lifted and carried to the heart of the flower. Tentacles and petals close over the body, then all is still once more. If you decide you want to investigate the opening from which the rat emerged, turn to 382. Should you prefer to make your way back to the silver door, turn to 30.

373 In order to have passed through the door on your way up, it seems you must have either killed the red Wyvern, or immobilised it somewhere away from its pentagram. Whichever may be the case, when you open the red door nothing will have changed, and the large circular room will be as you left it. You are able to make your way across to the top of the circular stairway which leads downwards from the centre of the room. Turn to 35.

374-376 374

The creature you are fighting has an Expertise of 11, Vitality 30 and does 4 Points of Damage with its single, powerful arm if it hits you. Slow and ponderous, it is easy to escape from, and after the first round of combat you will be able to get away through the black door whenever you wish. You are sure that were you to do this, however, it would demolish the lower section of the ladder, and if you have any companions accompanying you they would be marooned. In this case, your best hope might be to keep the creature engaged in combat, and away from the ladder, while they descend and make for the door. If you decide to make good your own escape, turn to 378. Should you keep fighting, and call for anyone accompanying you to make for the door, turn to 384. If you die in the first round of combat, turn to 333. 375 As your action has killed a good half of the yellowish-green plants with the mauve snapdragon flowers, the plants in the other bed now have a decided advantage. When you go back through the brown door, the battle will have increased in intensity, and the passage down the centre of the room will be virtually impassable. The lighter plants, however, will mass all their forces to meet the challenge, and there will be a wide, clear gap at the rear of their bed. You are able to make your way across in safety, and through the blue door. Turn to 64. 376

For some time the guards hammer and heave at the barricaded door, and you have a chance to search the

378-379

377 room. The only other way out is through the window all is darkness on the other side but you have a feeling it opens out on empty space as if it was on the inside of the castle keep you feel you would see lights at other windows. Your rope is nowhere near long enough for you to descend to the garden below, so you are effectively trapped. Silence falls outside as a voice snaps a sharp order. Someone in authority has obviously arrived, and for several moments there is a mutter of conversation, then a cultured voice calls, 'You in there, come out and explain yourself. You need have nothing to fear if you come out now.' This patent falsehood does not seem worth a reply, so you keep quiet. 'Come now,' continues the voice. 'We can kill you quite unpleasantly without entering the room. Why not save us trouble and yourself pain, and open the door.' This doesn't sound so good, always supposing the voice speaks the truth. If you decide to open the door, turn to 381. Should you prefer to search the cupboards while waiting to see how they propose to administer this painful death, turn to 355. 377 The tiara is in fact imbued with a strong magical effect. It has been given to Princess Wanda by the evil Belfont, and makes anyone holding or wearing it totally subservient to the will of anyone wearing a special magic ring (which Belfont, needless to say, never allows out of his possession.) As soon as you touch the tiara, you become subject to

this effect. If you are in luck, Belfont will not be wearing the ring at the moment: otherwise, whether he be asleep or awake you will come under the control of his thought-waves. If you sacrifice 2 Fortune Points by deleting them from your Character Sheet, he will not be wearing the ring and you may turn to 313. If you do not Use Fortune, turn to 393. 378 Breaking off the combat, you make a successful dash for the black door, and pass through into the passage on the far side. The monster stays in the room.

Turn to 9. 379 The picket leads you deeper into the wood, where the cavalry commander is summoned. Hastily you explain the unfortunate circumstances, and he is plainly at a loss as to what action to take, since his instructions had not extended to escorting an unwilling princess. The rule of the royal family is absolute, over the armed forces especially, and he dreads to think of the possible consequences of offending one of them. You point out that, once an antidote is administered, the Princess should no longer bear any grudge against any of you, and in any event her marriage should take her far away to another country. Somewhat reassured, he decides to escort you both back to the capital. However, just as a safeguard, he declares that you must both be bound and, when people are about, disguised and gagged as well. If you agree, turn to 395. Should you object, turn to 390.

383-384

380-382 380

The man regards you silently for a moment, then turns to the Hobgoblin with the crossbow. 'Another intruder,' he says. 'Don't use too many bolts.' Then he and the Hobgoblin with the whip walk off and the one with the bow takes careful aim. Unfortunately, there is nothing you can do. The Hobgoblin has plenty of crossbow bolts and you will soon be shot to death. Perhaps it would have been better to tell the truth . . . who can tell. Turn to 333. 381 You decide to accept the situation and surrender, perhaps with the hope of finding an opportunity to escape later. Heaving the barricade aside, you open the door. A veritable phalanx of swordsmen awaits you, with several rather more important and better-dressed individuals in the background. One of these now utters one word, 'Kill'. And, in short order, they do. Turn to 333. 382

Carefully, you clamber down the rocky slope, and step into the pool which is about eighty feet across. The water turns out to be only three feet deep, and you wade out, trying to find a route which takes you clear of as many of the deadly flowers as possible. You will, however, have to overcome three of them to reach the opening on the far side. Each has two tentacles, and each tentacle effectively has an Expertise of 11 and a Vitality of 5. As each plant attacks you, you will be in combat with two opponents, and must roll E + 4H three times, once

for yourself and once for each tentacle. You can only hit one at a time, choosing which you please, but any that exceed your score will hit you. When you have destroyed one, you will obviously only be under attack from the other. Any tentacle which hits you will render you unconscious UNLESS you delete 1 Fortune Point from your Character Sheet each time. (This effectively means the tentacle has hit some stout part of your clothing or equipment which is impervious to the poison.) If you suffer a hit for which you cannot (or will not) sacrifice a Fortune Point, turn to 333. If you manage to fight your way across to the opening, turn to 219. 383 Before you can escape around the curve of the stairs, you are enveloped in a gout of flame from the Wyvern, and suffer 5 Points of Damage. If this kills you, turn to 333. Fortunately, anyone accompanying your character will be further down the stairs, and out of the line of fire. If you survive, turn to 35. 384 If you are accompanied by the Princess Wanda, she is quite nimble and will be able to descend the ladder and get to the door while you fight three more rounds of combat. Should the maidservant Becky be there, she will take much longer and you will have to fight five rounds of combat before you can reach the door.

385-386 Of course, if you are escorting both, then eight rounds will be needed. Should this lead to your death, turn to 333. If the rest of your little group gets to the door while you are still alive, turn to 378. 385 The first group of guards manages to force the door open before you can manoeuvre a bench in place to hold it. There are five of them, armed with swords and wearing ring-mail jackets. Any hope you may have of defeating all five and making your escape are dashed as more and more guards, awakened by the din, pile in behind the first. You may take a few with you, but eventually are cut down. Turn to 333. 386 Several hours pass and you manage to doze off occasionally, huddled against one wall in the driest area you can find. You have blown out the light in your lantern, to save oil, and it is the combination of light and voices from the passage outside which awakens you. Several hulking forms are standing around the cell across the passage but only one is Human . . . the rest are Hobgoblins. The occupant of the other cell, a middle-aged man in a long white robe, is released and, to your surprise, is shown considerable deference by the Human who seems in charge of the Hobgoblins. Then two of the brutes escort him along the passage to the left, while the others come to stare in at you. Turn to 322.

387-389 387 You make your way back along the secret passage from the gold-painted door, and descend the narrow curving flight of stairs. At the bottom, you come to a place where the outline of a door has been marked in white on the right-hand wall. If you wish to pause here, turn to 58. Should you prefer to keep going to the next flight of stairs leading down, turn to 74. 388 You are fortunate in having collected a considerable amount of rope in your previous adventures within the castle, and may have just enough to reach the garden below from one of the bedroom windows. A problem may arise, however, when you have to decide how best to use it. You are fit and agile enough to climb down, and Princess Wanda, if willing to go with you, will claim to be the same. The maidservant Becky, if she is accompanying you also, will be quite incapable of such a feat, and if the Princess is bound and unwilling this will also apply to her. Unfortunately, the rope is formed of several lengths joined together so you cannot lower either of the girls as the weight would be too much for you unassisted, and if you took two or three turns around a stout bedpost to ease the strain then the knots would jam the rope. If there are only you and the willing Princess, and you wish to climb, turn to 228. Otherwise, you will have to use the secret passage after all and should turn to 387. 389 The commander of the escort is quickly on the scene

390-392 and is dismayed when you explain what has gone wrong. You are both taken deeper into the wood, where a hooded lantern throws a little more light on the scene. The soldiers gather round as you go through your story again. 'Whatever your reasons, you have failed in the task the Prince set for you' points out the commander sorrowfully. 'In those circumstances, I have my orders. ..' and he nods to someone behind you. You feel a smashing blow to the back of the head, and the darkness seems to explode into light. Turn to 333. 390

You object to being taken back, bound like a criminal, when you have at least partly fulfilled the purpose of your quest. Unfortunately, the soldiers, when given the order, are determined to carry it out, and the struggle gets rather out of hand in the darkness. Swords are drawn, and you are quickly cut down. Turn to 333. 391

After the tenth round of combat with the guards on the landing, your chances of escape have gone. More and more guards come rushing up the stairs until the landing is crammed with them, and you are borne down by sheer weight of numbers. Turn to 333. 392 As the tuneless cacophony continues outside, a procession of snakes of various sizes and colours comes wriggling into the room heading purposefully towards you. It is too late to surrender now.

The snakes head purposefully towards you

393-394 If you joined the ropes together, you can tie one end to a workbench, break a window (it does not open) and throw the rest through before sliding down. In this event, turn to 397. If you did not, then you won't have time now as the snakes will be upon you and you will have to defend yourself. Should this be the case, turn to 371. 393 Unfortunately, Belfont is wearing the ring and at the moment is having a particularly nasty dream. Awake, Belfont is an unpleasant person; when he is asleep his imagination runs unchecked. The present dream continues his favourite waking pastime of torturing helpless prisoners. Although nothing is happening to you physically, your mind believes your body is suffering the full effects of Belfont's dreams, and you quickly expire in agony. Turn to 333. 394 The commander of the escort is quickly summoned and, with the aid of a hooded lantern, immediately recognises the Princess, falling on one knee to greet her. The soldiers are quietly jubilant, and you take enough lusty claps on the shoulder to make you wonder if fighting monsters might not be less painful. Preparations are swiftly made for the return to Tan-Delta, and before dawn you are on your way. Turn to 398.

395-397 395

The journey back to Tan-Delta takes three days. When you arrive, you are admitted to the palace through a rear gate, and the commander goes off to report, taking Princess Wanda with him. You are taken to a guardroom and, although not locked in a cell, are surrounded by armed men once your bonds are removed. Prince Elrindell finds you there some hours later and takes you into a small side-room. All is well, he informs you, as another potion was available, the Princess restored to the proper frame of mind, and the wedding will go ahead. Your own position, on the other hand, is an awkward one, as you know far too many things which the royal family wish to remain a secret. There is one acceptable way out (and he produces a small potion bottle): if you will drink this potion you will forget everything that has happened. If you drink the potion, turn to 358. If you refuse, turn to 399. 396 This time the odds are too heavily stacked against you. The patrolling squad of five men-at-arms arrives first, then the guards from the main hall, followed at intervals by other experienced soldiers who have been aroused by the din. You may take a few of them with you, but the end is never in doubt. Turn to 333. 397

Descending a rope is normally quite a simple task for an adventurer of your calibre. This one is rather over

398-399 200 feet long, however, and you have to descend in the pitch dark hoping no-one gets into the room above in time to cut it before you reach the bottom. Calculate E + 4H - T: you will need a score of 14 to succeed but may sacrifice Fortune Points to modify your score if necessary. If you succeed, turn to 227. Should you fail, turn to 333.

398 When you reach the capital, three days hard riding later, the Princess is disguised under a hooded cloak, as her absence from the palace has been a closely guarded secret. Your party passes unremarked through the streets, and enters the palace by a small rear gate. There the Princess takes her leave of you, with gracious thanks for your services and, to your relief, no recriminations for any indignities suffered. You are taken away to be royally entertained, with the officers of your escort, and there Prince Elrindell joins you some hours later. Turn to 400.

399 'A pity,' remarks Prince Elrindell. 'Still, I respect your wishes, although I cannot say I would have reached the same decision.' He leaves the room, and almost immediately several masked men enter and kill you. Turn to 333.

400 400

The Prince clasps you warmly by the hand, and extends the grateful thanks of all the royal family for your noble service. And the obvious reward for a noble service . . . is nobility itself! To this end, letters patent have just been signed by the king, giving you not only title to a small but prosperous estate, but also appointing you a Knight Companion of the Shield, the most prestigious order of chivalry in the land. And your first duty, you are advised, will be as escort to the Princess at the royal wedding in two days' time. 'Having brought her this far,' smiles the Prince, 'we thought you ought to see it through to . . .' THE END

Character Sheet

MONSTER COMBAT RECORDS Monster: Expertise: Damage: Vitality:

Monster: Expertise: Damage: Vitality:

Monster: Expertise: Damage: Vitality:

Monster: Expertise: Damage: Vitality:

Monster: Expertise: Damage: Vitality:

Monster: Expertise: Damage: Vitality:

Monster: Expertise: Damage: Vitality:

Monster: Expertise: Damage: Vitality:

EXPERTISE

Initial E 12

VITALITY

Initial V 20

FORTUNE

Initial F (10+3H-T)

EQUIPMENT MAGICAL

STANDARD Sword Dagger Backpack Rope (50ft) Tinderbox Torches 1 2 3 4 5 Waterskin

Monster: Expertise: Damage: Vitality:

Monster: Expertise: Damage: Vitality:

Potions of Healing 1 2 3

Monster: Expertise: Damage: Vitality:

Monster: Expertise: Damage: Vitality:

PROVISIONS Food (Sufficient for days...) 1 2